Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Politics/National
NationalNewsRace

Texans Owner Bob McNair Chalks Up ‘Inmate’ Comment to a ‘Figure of Speech’

Posted byBy Tanasia Kenney | Published on: CommentsComments (0)
Bob McNair

Owner Bob McNair said his “inmate” comment was just a “figure of speech.” (Photo by Eric Chastain Smith/AP)

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair has apologized after making an analogy about the NFL allowing players to kneel in protest during the national anthem.

“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair said regarding the issue during a meeting with NFL players and executives, according to an ESPN report. League executive and former Miami Dolphin Troy Vincent were reportedly most vexed by McNair’s comment, saying that in all his years of playing in the NFL, he’s been called every name in the book, including a n—-r, but never has he ever felt like an “inmate.”

On Friday morning, the Texans released a statement from McNair apologizing for the characterization, which he called just a “figure of speech.”

McNair, a multi-million dollar Trump campaign donor, is among many NFL owners hard-  pressed against players protesting during the anthem. Fellow team executive and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has also been an outspoken critic of recent anthem protests, threatening to bench players who dared to take a knee. The ESPN report described Jones’ anger with San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York for allowing former star quarterback Colin Kaepernick to kneel last year, setting off the league’s national anthem “crisis.”

Kaepernick began his protest to denounce racism and police brutality in America.

Despite his apology, McNair’s comment was enough to make several Texans players consider staging a walk out. About 10 players, including wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, left the practice facility Friday, a source told ESPN, but most of them later returned. The source said Hopkins’ absence from practice was directly related to McNair’s comment.

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top