An NFL owner opposed to the widespread protests against racial inequality and police brutality issued a public apology Friday after he compared football players to “inmates” at last week’s owner’s meetings.
At a meeting of NFL officials earlier this month to discuss the protests, Houston Texans owner Bob McNair said, “We can’t have inmates running the prison,” ESPN reported.
Troy Vincent, a former NFL player, responded to McNair, saying that his comment was offensive and that he did not feel like an “inmate” during his NFL career.
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In a statement released Friday, McNair said, “I regret that I used that expression. I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players. I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally. I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it.”
According to ESPN, McNair also pulled Vincent aside and apologized for the statements.
President Trump has been feuding with the NFL over the protests, saying that kneeling during the national anthem is disrespectful to the country and calling for NFL owners to fire players who have participated in the protests.
McNair donated millions of dollars to Trump’s presidential campaign.
The NFL announced after their annual conference that they would not create a regulation requiring players to stand, despite Trump’s repeated calls for such a rule and threats of NFL boycotts.
– This report was updated at 11:45 a.m.