Houston Texans owner Bob McNair put a Texas-sized boot in his mouth at a recent meeting of NFL owners and league executives regarding player protests when he reportedly said “we can't have the inmates running the prison.”
McNair released a statement Friday apologizing for his analogy.
"I regret that I used that expression. I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players. I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally," McNair said. "I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it."
Statement from Texans Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert C. McNair: pic.twitter.com/EXdwKZ4y4x
— Texans PR (@TexansPR) October 27, 2017
After McNair’s initial comment, former NFL player and current NFL executive Troy Vincent told the group of owners he was offended. According to ESPN.com, Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL — during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word — he never felt like an "inmate.”
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According to the ESPN report, McNair later pulled Vincent aside, apologized and said his words weren't meant to be taken literally.