NFL punishes Jerry Jones for unacceptable action during Cowboys’ win over Jets, and his stance on the incident couldn’t be any wilder
Jerry Jones says it was an “inadvertent” and “unfortunate” incident.
The NFL is fining Jerry Jones $250,000 after he showed the middle finger to fans during the Dallas Cowboys’ 37-22 win over the New York Jets.
After a touchdown play, Jones was giving a thumbs up from a suite at the Jets’ MetLife Stadium before seemingly turning to another group of fans and giving them the middle finger.
“That was unfortunate,” Jones said Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan, where he appears regularly. That was kind of an exchange with our fans out in front of us. There was a swarm of Cowboy fans out in front — not Jet fans, Cowboy fans — and the entire stadium was brimming with the enthusiasm of Cowboys, certainly late in the game.”
Jones says he meant to throw a thumbs up, not a middle finger up
According to Jones, he intended to continue to show a thumbs up to another cluster of fans but for some reason, it was the middle finger that came up and not his thumb.
“That was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we’d made our last touchdown, and we were all excited,” Jones added. “There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that. I just put up the wrong show on the hand, but that was inadvertently done. And I’m not kidding — if you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental.”
Listen, there’s no way we can’t know for sure what Jones was thinking or wasn’t thinking in that moment. All I’m saying from the video it seems he’s even aiming the middle finger at someone. I at least can understand why the radio hosts were laughing as Jones got through his answer. It’s a wild stance to take, even if it’s true.
“Got straightened around pretty quick, but the intention was a thumbs up,” insisted Jones. “Basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down, excited.”
This is not the first time the NFL fines an owner. Just last year, David Tepper (Carolina Panthers) was fined $300,000 when he threw a drink at a fan heckling him. Jones will probably not sweat the fine too much but it’s a well deserved one, regardless of what his true intentions were.
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