NFL Player Isaiah Crowell Posted Image of Police Officer Execution-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell posted an image of a police officer being executed on social media.
The Truth:
Isaiah Crowell posted a picture of a police officer being executed on social media in July 2016, but he quickly deleted the post and issued a public apology.
Rumors about the Isaiah Crowell “cop-killing” post resurfaced in August 2017 after Crowell joined a group of teammates in kneeling during the anthem before a preseason game. The players kneeled in solidarity with former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who went unsigned by NFL teams after starting the national anthem protest movement in 2016.
Isaiah Crowell’s controversial post originally appeared on July 11, 2016, with the comment “Mood: They give polices all types of weapons and they continously choose to kill us….” Crowell deleted the post immediately, but Cleveland SportsTalk re-posted a screenshot of it:
After news broke, an NFL spokesperson condemned the post and Crowell issued an apology on his official Twitter account, Cleveland.com reports:
“Last week was an emotional and difficult week as we saw extreme acts of violence against black men across our country as well as against police officers in Dallas I posted an image to Instagram in the midst of that emotion that I shouldn’t have and immediately removed it. It was an extremely poor decision and I apologize for that mistake and for offending people.
“My values and beliefs do not match that image. I am outraged and upset by the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile along with so many others. I am also outraged and saddened by the attacks in Dallas and the deaths of the five honorable police officers (Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael J. Smith, Brent Thompson and Patrick Zamarripa) who were providing protection while trying to keep peace.
“We have to be better as a society, it’s not about color, it’s about what’s right and wrong. I was very wrong in posting that image. Every single life matters, every death as a result of violence should be treated with equal outrage and penalty.”
A day later, the Cleveland Browns organization released a statement saying that Crowell’s apology was “insufficient” and that team reps had told him he needed to take additional positive steps to “back it up”:
“We have spoken to Isaiah regarding his extremely disturbing and unacceptable social media decision. It was completely inappropriate and we have made him aware of our high level of disappointment. Isaiah has apologized but also knows that just an apology is insufficient and that he must take steps to make a positive difference after a very negative and impactful post.”
Crowell responded on July 13th by saying in a Facebook video that he would donate his first game check to the Dallas Fallen Officers Foundation to back it up, saying, “By posting that picture I became part of the problem. I don’t want to be part of the problem. I want to be part of the solution. To back that up, my first game check is going to the Dallas Fallen Officers Foundation.”