UPDATED 7/10, 1:45 p.m. ET: Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins has weighed in on DeSean Jackson's comments, writing, "We can honor the Jewish heritage and trauma while staying focused on what matters." Jackson continued, "Jewish people aren’t our problem, and we aren’t their problem. Let’s not lose focus on what the problem truly is, and that’s that black lives still don’t matter in this country. Push this energy toward arresting and convicting the killers of Breonna Taylor and burning systemic racism to the ground."
You can see his post, which includes a video of Jackson speaking, below.
UPDATED 7/9, 9:40 a.m. ET: New England Patriots receiver Julian Edelman has replied to DeSean Jackson's comments, offering to go on a trip to D.C's Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Museum of African American History and Culture with him. Addressing the situation, Edelman said that he is "proud of his Jewish heritage," and warned Jackson that "anti-Semitism is one of the oldest forms of hatred."
He complimented Jackson's skills on the field, but admitted that he made some "ugly" comments about the Jewish community. "I remember I experienced a little bit of this hate in 2011," he said. "I was called a k**e on the football field... There's no room for anti-Semitism in this world. Even though we're talking about anti-Semitism, I don't wanna distract from how important the Black Lives Matter movement is, and how we need to stay behind it."
He said that the Jewish and Black communities have much in common, as they both face hatred for who they are. He explained that the world "needs a little more love, compassion, and empathy," and he hopes to have "uncomfortable conversations" with Jackson in the future regarding the discrimination they both face.
UPDATED 7/8, 12:50 p.m. ET: Stephen Jackson defended DeSean Jackson's comments, saying he's "speaking the truth."
"So I just read a statement that the Philadelphia Eagles posted regarding DeSean Jackson's comments. He was trying to educate himself, educate people, and he's speaking the truth. Right?" Jackson said in a video posted to Instagram. "He's speaking the truth. You know he don't hate nobody, but he's speaking the truth of the facts that he knows and trying to educate others."
"But y'all don't want us to educate ourselves. If it's talking about the Black race, y'all ain't saying nothing about it. They killing us, police killing us and treating us like sh*t, racism at an all-time high, but ain't none of you NFL owners spoke up on that, ain't none of you teams spoke up on that," he added. "But the same team had a receiver [Riley Cooper] who said the word n*gga publicly! They gave him an extension! I play for the Big3. We have a Jewish owner. He understands where we stand and some of the things we say, but it's not directed to him. It's the way we've been treated."
Jackson later deleted the video and responded to the ensuing backlash via Instagram.
See original story below.
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson has come under fire after sharing anti-Semitic quotes on his Instagram, that he attributed to Adolf Hitler.
As ESPN points out, the quote that Jackson attributed to Hitler was as follows: "[white Jews] will blackmail America. [They] will extort America, their plan for world domination won't work if the Negroes know who they were."
Later, Jackson shared two Instagram posts where he openly admired Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has been identified as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center.
After facing backlash for his IG story, Jackson said the quote was taken “the wrong way.”
“Anyone who feels I have hate towards the Jewish community took my post the wrong way,” he wrote on his Story, alongside the same passage attributed to Hitler. “I have no hatred in my heart toward no one!! Equality. Equality.”
Jackson signed a three-year deal with the Eagles in March for his second stint with the team. While the Eagles have yet to respond to his posts, former team president Joe Banner, who is Jewish, called Jackson out on Twitter.
“If a white player said anything about AA’s as outrageous as what Desean Jackson said about Jews tonight there would at least be a serious conversation about cutting him and a need for a team meeting to discuss. Which would be totally appropriate. Absolutely indefensible," he wrote.
Here's the Eagles' official statement on the matter.
