The owner of Houston's NFL franchise quickly moved to issue an apology, after a report that was leaked from annual winter meetings on Friday (Oct. 27) revealed that during one of the sessions he had made a remark that "stunned some in the room." According to ESPN's Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr., Texans honcho Robert McNair told his peers in the meeting that "we can't have the inmates running the prison," while elaborating on his position regarding the year-old National Anthem protests.
McNair reportedly made the remark while concurring with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' suggestion that the league institute a rule that would disallow players from demonstrating during the patriotic demonstration. Jones is said to have made an impassioned speech defending his decision to impose a mandate that his players stand, thereby encouraging other team owners to follow suit. Jones rested his point on reports that tell of ratings and revenue being down, which he believes are a direct consequence of the player protests.
Soon after the report was released, McNair - who like Jones is noted as having donated upwards of $1 million to the President's inaugural committee - released a statement in which he admits to having made the comment and subsequently apologizes. "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," McNair stated, via Twitter.
Source: bleacherreport.com
