Damar Hamlin’s Family ‘Frustrated’ Over Hate Toward Tee Higgins

Damar Hamlin’s family is asking that any hate or criticism toward Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins stop. Close family friend and marketing rep of Hamlin, Jordon Rooney, spoke to Rachel Hopmayer of Spectrum News 1 where he relayed the message from the family.

“They’re mad, they’re frustrated. This isn’t supporting Damar. If you think you’re supporting Damar by bashing Tee, you’re not supporting Damar,” Rooney said. “They don’t agree with anything that’s being said. It was a freak football accident that could have happened with anyone at anytime. Tee has reached out, he’s went above and beyond—all signs point toward him being a great human being who genuinely cares and feels bad. The family feels bad that Tee would have any guilt in this situation.”

Higgins was the ball carrier on the play during Monday Night Football when Hamlin collapsed. It appeared to be a routine tackle with Hamlin throwing Higgins to the ground. After getting up, Hamlin collapsed to the ground.

He was administered CPR on the field and was then taken away in an ambulance. Hamlin was then transferred to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and is still there in critical condition after going into cardiac arrest. His uncle, Dorrian Glenn, told CNN on Tuesday night that Hamlin had to be resuscitated twice when his heart stopped beating. Rooney has since clarified that he was only resuscitated once, on the field.

“There’s a lot of medical jargon, a lot of things being said, so Damar’s only been resuscitated once,” Rooney said, adding that Glenn “misspoke,” per CNN, “His uncle’s incredibly supportive of his, of his nephew. … I think that, you know, he just wanted to do his part to share some good news.”

After the incident, Higgins took to Twitter and wished Hamlin well. 

“My prayers and thoughts go out to @HamlinIsland the Hamlin Family,” he wrote. “I’m praying that you pull through bro. Love.”