Jerry Angelo: Domestic violence comments 'taken out of context'
Former Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said Friday that his comments in a USA Today report about domestic violence cases being hidden by teams were "totally taken out of context," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Speaking on 87.7-FM’s “Kap and Haugh” show, Angelo said the conversation with USA Today was about the NFL and Roger Goodell before it shifted to domestic violence.
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In the story, it was reported that Angelo said "hundreds and hundreds" of teams have hidden domestic violence cases in his 30 years in the league, and that they knew it was wrong but did not report instances to the league because if players were disciplined, it could hurt the team on the field.
"I have no clue on 'hundreds and hundreds' of incidents," Angelo told the station. "I was just embellishing how things have changed over my 30 years on the NFL. I have great respect for the people that employed me, that I worked with and what I represented as a person. I would never tarnish that or naysay that. That’s not who I am, and certainly not the way I’m going to be remembered."
Angelo was the GM of the Bears from 2001-2012, and before that spent 14 years as the Buccaneers' director of player personnel.
Following the USA Today report, the Bears released a statement saying, "We were surprised by Jerry’s comments and do not know what he is referring to."
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Angelo also said that the intent he had for the story was that he would "find it shocking if the commissioner were covering or had any knowledge of anything."
"We made mistakes. But we never justified mistakes. We did what we had to do and moved on. There was no inference to the credibility of the organization," he said.
- Molly Geary
