Commanders coach stirs controversy over Jan. 6 hearing tweet

Washington Commanders coach Jack Del Rio has stirred controversy over his tweets regarding the upcoming hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. 

In a Monday tweet, Del Rio, who’s entering his third season as the team’s defensive coordinator, compared the riot to the nationwide protests against police brutality that took place in 2020 following George Floyd’s murder.

“Would love to understand ‘the whole story’ about why the summer of riots, looting, burning, and the destruction of personal property is never discussed but this is ???” Del Rio wrote in his tweet, adding the hashtag “#CommonSense.” 

He made the comparison in a response to Brookings Institution senior fellow Norm Eisen tweeting out a story he had written about the panel’s hearings.

Del Rio’s tweet stirred a massive backlash from Twitter users, with one calling out the longtime NFL coach for his ill-advised comparison.

“Uhh yeah sure,” the 59-year-old coach replied to that post in a quoted tweet and added a Pinocchio-nosed emoji, apparently claiming the other user’s post was a lie.

The Hill has reached out to the Commanders for comment. 

Del Rio, who previously was the head coach for then-Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders and the Jacksonville Jaguars, has been very open about his conservative beliefs on social media in the past few years. 

Del Rio’s remarks come as the Jan. 6 committee last week announced that it will hold its first hearing in the prime-time slot Thursday, adding that it will present previously unseen documents and a summary of its findings related to the attack. 

The Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, where pro-Trump supporters stormed the building in an effort to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election, resulted in the deaths of five people. 

The Commanders recently have been embroiled in a series of controversies, including the investigations by the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the NFL into allegations of workplace misconduct and financial improprieties by the team and owner Daniel Snyder.