“I’m a brown #Jew-Rican. Am I in the clear?” political commentator and Investigative Reporter Geraldo Rivera asked NFL’s DeSean Jackson Tuesday after the Eagles wide receiver posted anti-Semitic comments.
Rivera tweeted his question to Jackson in response to news of one of Jackson’s Instagram posts. As NBC Sports Philadelphia reported Tuesday, Jackson posted anti-Semitic comments often attributed to Hitler:
Before denying hatred in his heart, Eagles WR DeSean Jackson posted a quote that said #whiteJews will “blackmail” and “extort” America. Facing backlash, he apologized, “I have no hatred in my heart toward no one.”
— Geraldo Rivera (@GeraldoRivera) July 8, 2020
Whew https://t.co/nyD9gGExO3
Jackson, who has 1.4 million followers on Instagram, initially posted a screen shot of a quote widely attributed to Hitler saying, among other things:
“Because the white Jews knows that the Negroes are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will blackmail America. They 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.”
DeSean Jackson, posts a quote from Hitler, says he’s not anti-Semitic and then highlights the particularly anti-Semitic part.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 7, 2020
As an Eagles fan, this is disgusting. Where is the response from the team and the NFL? pic.twitter.com/MFPmz0PyOY
Jackson later issued an apology, after first posting a claim that anyone who was offended "took my post the wrong way":
“ANYONE WHO FEELS I HAVE HATE TOWARDS THE JEWISH COMMUNITY TOOK MY POST THE WRONG WAY I HAVE NO HATRED IN MY HEART TOWARDS NO ONE.”
On Wednesday, Rivera responded to Jackson’s denial by feigning relief:
“Before denying hatred in his heart, Eagles WR DeSean Jackson posted a quote that said #whiteJews will “blackmail” and “extort” America. Facing backlash, he apologized, ‘I have no hatred in my heart toward no one.’
“Whew”
Jackson’s comments are “offensive, harmful and absolutely appalling,” Jackson’s team, the Eagles, said in a statement promising to take “appropriate action” once it has thoroughly reviewed the incident.