Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson apologized for sharing anti-Semitism posts on his social media page. Jackson´s apology came after the Eagles released a statement where they declare their disappointment in the player.
“I post a lot of things that are sent to me. I do not have hatred towards anyone,” Jackson said. “I really didn’t realize what this passage was saying. Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African-Americans have suffered. We should be together fighting anti-Semitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused.”
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Meanwhile, The Eagles called Jackson’s posts “offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling.”
“We have spoken with DeSean Jackson about his social media posts,” the tweet read. “Regardless of his intentions, the messages he shared were offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling. They have no place in our society, and are not condoned or supported in any way by the organization. We are disappointed and we reiterated to DeSean the importance of not only apologizing, but also using his platform to take action to promote unity, equality, and respect.
The controversial post quoted a passage from a book that allegedly quoted the German dictator Adolf Hitler. Jackson also posted photos praising Islamic leader Louis Farrakhan.
The passage Jackson highlighted read:“Hitler said, ‘because the white Jews knows [sic] that the Negroes are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas [sic] secret the Jews will blackmail America. The [sic] will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.The white citizens of America will be terrified to know that all this time they’ve been mistreating and discriminating and lynching the Children of Israel.’”
StopAntisemitism.org tweeted Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie and Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman asking if they were “cool with your wide receiver [DeSean Jackson] quoting Hitler and proclaiming he was right?”
Former Eagles president Joe Banner called the posts “absolutely indefensible.”
Jackson also posted images of accused anti-Semitic Islamic leader Louis Farrakhan, calling him a “powerful” man.
“#farrakhan This man powerful I hope everyone got a chance to watch this!! Don’t be blinded. Know what’s going on !!,” his Instagram caption read.
Shira Goodman of the Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia says Jackson needs to learn about why his posts were harmful.
“I don’t think that posting Hitler and Farrakhan demonstrates understanding the damage and danger of hate of all kinds, whatever the “ism” you have, anti-Semitism, racism, what we’re seeing a lot now during the coronavirus, biased against the Asian American community, all those kinds of hates are extremely dangerous,”Goodman said.