The defensive coordinator compared the Capitol insurrection to the 2020 protests following George Floyd’s death, later calling the insurrection a ‘dust-up.’
Commanders coach Ron Rivera announced Friday that the team is fining defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 for the comments he made on Twitter regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
The team will donate this money to the US Capitol Police Memorial Fund for those who lost their lives during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“This morning I met with Coach Del Rio to express how disappointed I am in his comments on Wednesday,” Rivera said, via the team’s statement. “His comments do not reflect the organization’s views and are extremely hurtful to our great community here in the DMV.”
In his initial Twitter reply, Del Rio asked why the attempted insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was being investigated, while what he described as “riots” during summer ’20 were not. During the summer of ’20, there were nationwide protests after the death of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis law enforcement. Floyd, who was Black, died in police custody after officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on his neck for several minutes during an arrest. Chauvin was later convicted of second-degree unintentional murder and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter.
The Washington defensive coordinator was asked about the tweet this Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s insurrection hearings, and he brushed off the insurrection as a “dust-up.”
The head coach emphasized that he made sure Del Rio realizes the weight of his words after their Friday-morning discussion.
“He does have the right to voice his opinion as a citizen of the United States, and it most certainly is his constitutional right to do so,” Rivera said. “However, our words have consequences, and his words hurt a lot of people in our community. I want to make it clear that our organization will not tolerate any equivalency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government.”
Del Rio did apologize for his comments Wednesday, admitting that what he said was “irresponsible and negligent.”