Jerry Jones, the billionaire proprietor of the Dallas Cowboys, was all smiles at a Halloween occasion over the weekend. However the NFL won’t discover his current antics so humorous.
Jones arrived dressed as a blind NFL referee, full with darkish sun shades, a striped shirt, and a strolling stick. His niece snapped a photograph for her social, and it went viral shortly after that.
Cowboys proprietor Jerry Jones with the epic troll Halloween costume. A blind ref.Hope @nfl has a humorousness pic.twitter.com/WkZyjmDj1J
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) October 30, 2022
The joke was clearly on the refs, who’re routinely criticized by house owners, gamers, and followers alike for his or her questionable calls on the sphere.
The issue is that the NFL has guidelines with regards to tossing shade on the males in black and white.
A 2019 league memo states:
“Feedback concerning the standard of officiating, particular person calls or missed calls, the league’s officiating division, an officiating crew or a person sport official accusing sport officers of performing with bias or in any method questioning the integrity of NFL sport officers; or posting destructive or derogatory/demeaning content material pertaining to officiating on social media.”
Jerry Jones responds to the controversy
When requested by Sports activities Illustrated if he was poking enjoyable on the refs, Jones cried foul.
“I am being very cautious right here as a result of I am getting actual near a high-quality,” he stated. ‘It exhibits how a lot I really like them to decorate up as them … how a lot I respect their decision-making. I had the cane and the whole lot. And I used it on some individuals, too.”
Coming to his father’s protection, Stephen Jones, who’s CEO and Government VP of the Cowboys, advised a sports activities radio present, “I do suppose they [the refs] perceive you may have some humor with these items, however I can not think about they do not suppose there’s nothing however respect that comes out of the Cowboys group when it comes to how tough their job is and what a great job they do, as effectively.”
At press time, the NFL had not publicly commented on Costumegate.