Stephen Jackson Claims Eagles Were Ready to Cut DeSean Jackson
Former NBA star Stephen Jackson claims the Eagles were ready to release DeSean Jackson in the wake of the latter’s anti-Semitic Instagram posts over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Stephen Jackson originally came to DeSean’s defense with his own incendiary video on Tuesday night claiming the Eagles’ star receiver was “speaking the truth” when he posted quotes attributed to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a documented anti-Semite, and Adolf Hitler, the former Nazi Party leader responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
While the attribution to Hitler was incorrect the fact that the passages contained “Hitler said” and “Hitler was right” was a stunning miscalculation by DeSean, stemming from either ignorance or bigotry.
Releasing the WR1 was certainly on the table but the Eagles' actions behind the scenes indicated that they were prepared to forgive DeSean if he moved forward in a positive direction which included a host of apologies and reaching out to local Jewish leaders.
Stephen, meanwhile, continued to act as sort of an unwanted mouthpiece for DeSean, bringing in the notorious Riley Cooper incident from 2013 when Cooper was filmed uttering a racial slur and threatening to fight African-Americans while intoxicated at a Kenny Chesney concert at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I didn’t support the post, as far as Hitler and him supporting Hitler,” Stephen Jackson said. “I don’t support Hitler, I don’t know nothing about Hitler, and I could give a f@#k about Hitler. All I know is he was a cruel guy. I don’t stand for that, and I don’t support it. My whole reason for supporting D-Jack was, before I got on Instagram, he called me on the phone and told me that they was threatening to fire him, but they didn’t do that to [Riley] Cooper. And I was like, ‘You’re right, you shouldn’t have to apologize if they didn’t make him apologize.”
The context of that, however, is that Cooper certainly did apologize on multiple occasions and the Eagles were actually ready to release Cooper until Michael Vick and Jason Avant stepped up and advocated giving the disgraced WR a second chance. Cooper ultimately underwent a very short sensitivity training and was back even signing an extension in February of 2014.
The murkiness without that context would make the Eagles look very bad to some and perhaps it does even with the details added. In many ways, that incident may be helping DeSean, however, because Philadelphia is aware the comparisons will be raised if the organization cuts ties with Jackson.
An NFL source told SI.com that the Eagles have kept things open-ended on purpose in case the narrative because untenable.
"We reiterated to DeSean the importance of not only apologizing, but also using his platform to take action to promote unity, equality, and respect," the organization said after the story first broke. "We are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and will take appropriate action.”
Further complicating things could be an Instagram post from Dr. Umar Johnson that DeSean liked.
"... I pray for the day black men stop having to apologize for what we say, when others don't have have to apologize for what they've done," the posting said.
For now, if DeSean Jackson does want to remain on the Eagles he might want to scale back on social media and give Stephen Jackson another call informing the former NBA champion he doesn’t need a spokesman.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
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