Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio made waves earlier this week by referring to the events of January 6, 2021 as a “dust up” and equated it to Black Lives Matters protests. Today, Del Rio’s boss punished him for it.
On Friday, Commanders head coach Ron Rivera announced a $100,000 fine for Del Rio. In his statement, Rivera said that Rivera apologized for his statements.
But Rivera made it clear that he will not accept an equivocation between January 6th and social justice protests. He announced that the $100,000 fine will go towards the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund, a charity supporting the officers that were killed or injured during the attack on the Capitol building.
Many NFL fans have taken to Twitter with praise for Rivera. A lot of people like how he’s enforcing that Rivera’s freedom of speech does not grant him immunity from consequences:
Of course, there are also plenty of people saying that Ron Rivera’s punishment for Jack Del Rio is too far. Many are hoping that the Commanders lose more in 2022 to spite him.
Others believe that the harsh rebuke is a direct result to the team’s recent unsuccessful effort to secure stadium funding in Virginia. Some members of the Virginia General Assembly admitted that Del Rio’s comments didn’t help Washington’s efforts. The vote was tabled until next year.
Whether Del Rio was sincerely sorry or paying lip service with his apology, he’ll probably avoid talking about January 6th in such terms if he values his job.
Will Jack Del Rio learn from this experience?