On Friday, Ron Rivera, Washington Commanders' head coach, fined Jack Del Rio $100,000 for calling the Jan. 6, attack on the U.S. Capitol "dust-up" while referring to 2020's racial justice protests as "summer of Riots".
Rivera posted a statement on Twitter that the NFL head coach stated that he was disappointed by Del Rio's comments, and that they had hurt the community. According to the statement, the organization won't tolerate any comparison between this event and the protests that followed George Floyd’s murder in May 2020.
"As we witnessed last night in hearings, the incident on the Capitol on January 6th 2021 was an act domestic terrorism," said the statement, referring to Thursday’s primetime broadcast of the first congressional hearing into Jan. 6 riot.
In the statement, it said that "a group of citizens tried to overturn the results from a free, fair, and democratic election. As a result, people were killed and the Capitol building was damaged." Coach Del Rio apologized for his remarks on Wednesday. He also said that he understood the difference between those dark days and peaceful protests which are part of democracy.
Rivera stated that Del Rio has the right to his opinions but that words can have serious consequences. It also explained why the protests that followed Floyd’s death in custody by Minneapolis police were not fair comparison to what occurred at the U.S. Capitol.
Rivera stated, "I want it to be clear that our organisation will not tolerate any equivalency among those who demanded justice after George Floyd's death and the actions taken by those on January 6 to overthrow our government."
The statement stated that Del Rio's $100,000 fine would be donated to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
Friday's comment was not possible to Del Rio.
Del Rio tweeted Monday that Jan. 6 was likened to the protests which erupted after Floyd's death. He described the protests in that tweet as "a summer of riots and looting, burning, and the destruction personal property."
Del Rio spoke again about the subject Wednesday morning.
"I see the images shown on TV. People's livelihoods are being destroyed." Businesses are being destroyed. He said, "No problem." "And then, we have a dust up at the Capitol -- not burned down. We're going talk about it, and we're making that a major deal. It's like there are two standards.
He tweeted an apology hours later, saying: "I made comments earlier this day in reference to the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2020." It was irresponsible to refer to this situation as a dust-up. I'm sorry.
Del Rio stated that he stands by his comments "condemning violence within communities across the country."
