Vikings QB Kirk Cousins Clarifies Viral Comments On COVID-19, Masks

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins wasn't scheduled to speak to reporters over Zoom until Thursday, but the events of the morning prompted a change in those plans. Comments he made on a podcast with Kyle Brandt in July went viral and were picked apart on social media, leading the team to bump Cousins' availability up to Wednesday afternoon.

The majority of the 14-minute press conference was devoted to Cousins answering questions about his stance on COVID-19 and taking the chance to articulate what he meant by his comments. He expressed that he could've worded things better, but stuck by what he said.

"What I was trying to say back then, admittedly, I probably wasn’t as clear as I would have liked to have been," Cousins said. "But what I wanted to say then, what I would echo again now is that while the virus does not give me a great amount of personal fear, there’s still great reason for me to engage in wearing a mask and social distancing and washing my hands as frequently as I can and following protocols that have been set in place."

"Obviously to be respectful and considerate of other people, which is very important, but then also to be available for all 16 games this fall because as the protocol is set up, if a player were to test positive, they would be potentially out of a game or games. And so there’s plenty of reasons to wear a mask, social distance and be very vigilant to help stop the spread of the virus. That was the heart of what I was trying to say in July."

Cousins didn't exactly say anything new during the videoconference. One thing that got misconstrued or taken out of context at times in the social media frenzy was that there were people describing him as being someone who refused to wear masks. Regardless of his personal beliefs, Cousins said on the podcast that he wears a mask out of respect for other people, which he reiterated today.

He also didn't walk back his comments or change his stance.

When a reporter explained that his decision to say he was at a "0.0001" on a 1-10 scale – with 1 meaning "masks are stupid" – may have come across as demeaning to people who are taking this virus seriously, he clarified that he was only talking about himself.

"I was addressing my own personal perspective," Cousins said. "Everybody's different. That's what I was trying to say. There are many risk factors and other factors that will affect one's approach. I have family and friends who take a very different approach because of risk factors. That’s unique to my circumstances, unique to my situation. Lot of factors that are unique to me and would be extremely unique to any number of other people.”

On multiple occasions, Cousins declined to agree or acknowledge that his comments were tone deaf or insensitive. He simply repeated that he was only referring to his specific perspective.

"That's why hypotheticals don't work very well, I was just saying that if no one else was going to get it, I'm OK, I'll be OK," he said. "So I'm at peace with that for me. If you want to superimpose that onto yourself, certainly that would be a comment that I wasn't ever intending for it to turn into."

As for the reason why he feels this way, Cousins cited his faith. The veteran quarterback is a devout Christian, and he explained that his faith is why he's not concerned about personally getting the virus and whatever outcome would accompany that.

"I have peace," Cousins said. "I don't believe that I control the outcome of my life. There's many things out of my control, but obviously my faith is at the foundation of my life. I trust the Lord to handle things and if something happens, I trust Him to have a plan and a purpose. Even a pain, a setback, adversity, to use that to help grow me and teach me more about Him."

That even applies to death. The particular quote that blew up the most was Cousins saying "if I die, I die," about a virus that has killed 185,000 American people.

"The heart behind it was just saying that I have peace if that were to happen, was all I was wanting to say," Cousins explained.

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