Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson apologized for posting an anti-Semitic message that he wrongly attributed to Adolf Hitler.
Over the weekend, Jackson, 33, shared a series of messages on his Instagram story about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who is frequently accused of being anti-Semitic and homophobic, as well as a screenshot of text from the book The Hidden Treasure That Lies in Plain Sight 4: The Day of the Lord and the End of America.
“Hitler said, ‘because the white Jews knows [sic] that the Negros are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will blackmail America,” says the portion of the book that is highlighted in Jackson’s post.
“The[y] will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were,” the text continues. “The white citizens of America will be terrified to know that all this time they’ve been mistreating and discriminating and lynching Children of Israel.’”
The quote has wrongly been attributed to the Nazi leader for years. Snopes, a fact-checking website, calls it “a persistent hoax involving a falsified quote.”
Jackson later deleted and reposted the page on his story with the caption: “ANYONE WHO FEELS I HAVE HATE TOWARDS THE JEWISH COMMUNITY TOOK MY POST THE WRONG WAY I HAVE NO HATRED IN MY HEART TOWARDS NO ONE !! EQUALITY EQUALITY.”
He then posted it one more time, having used black marker to cross out the first and the third sentences, so the page read, “The[y] will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”
Jackson also posted a clip of Farrakhan from his July Fourth speech, during which the Nation of Islam leader told his followers that if Bill and Melinda Gates, in partnership with Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, come up with a vaccine for the coronavirus, black people should not “let them vaccinate you with their history of treachery through vaccines, through medication.”
Jackson added the caption: “#farrakhan This man powerful I hope everyone got a chance to watch this !! Don’t be blinded. Know what’s going on !!”
The Eagles denounced Jackson’s posts in a statement released on Tuesday.
“We have spoken with DeSean Jackson about his social media posts,” the team said. “Regardless of his intentions, the messages he shared were offensive, harmful, and absolutely appalling. They have no place in our society and are not condoned or supported in any way by the organization. We are disappointed and we reiterated to DeSean the importance of not only apologizing, but also using his platform to take action to promote unity, equality, and respect. We are continuing to evaluate the circumstances and will take appropriate action. We take these matters very seriously and are committed to continuing to have productive and meaningful conversations with DeSean, as well as all of our players and staff, in order to educate, learn, and grow.”
Shortly after the team released their statement, which was after the initial publication of this story, Jackson issued an apology on Instagram.
“I want to extend an apology on behalf of me, and what I stand for because … I never want to put any race down or any people down,” he said.
“I never want to put any race down or any people down. … I apologize. I didn’t intend any harm or any hatred towards any people.”
DeSean Jackson shares video apologizing after he posted an anti-Semitic message on Instagram pic.twitter.com/b5R2uSdQzk
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 7, 2020
Former team President Joe Banner condemned the team’s starting wide receiver for both the falsely attributed Hitler quote and the promotion of Farrakhan.
“Help me understand why media members speaking out against hate and fighting for social justice aren’t absolutely outraged by Desean Jackson’s comments. If you really care about stopping hate you should be outraged. Speak up!!!!!” he said in one of his many tweets on the matter.
The Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League had called on Jackson to apologize.
“Deeply troubling to see [DeSean Jackson] promoting the message of notorious antisemite and NOI leader Louis Farrakhan. We have reached out to the @Eagles about this and call on Jackson to immediately apologize,” they tweeted Tuesday morning. “We urge Mr. Jackson to use his platform as a professional athlete to promote unity and positivity, rather than the divisive words of a bigot. Learn more about Farrakhan’s disturbing history of hate and antisemitism.”
