Football coach fined $100,000 for expressing a political viewpoint
Team cites hurt feelings in community
Woke left-liberals haven’t yet been able to get Jack Del Rio, defensive coordinator of the Washington Commanders, fired for stating his politically incorrect opinions, but they helped induce the team’s head coach to fine him $100,000. Del Rio reportedly makes $3.5 million a year.
As I discussed in this post, Del Rio sinned against political correctness by wondering why rioting by anti-police protesters in 2020 received so little condemnation in comparison to the condemnation of the January 6 rioting at the Capitol. In the course of explaining his position, Del Rio described January 6 as a “dust-up.”
It was a ridiculous statement for which the coach quickly apologized. But even if he had stood by the description, how, in a free country, could a football coach be fined $100,000 for mischaracterizing a protest event?
Ron Rivera, the coach who levied the fine, acknowledged Del Rio’s apology. However, he condemned his assistant for asserting an “equivalency” between the events of January 6 and “peaceful protests which are the hallmark of our democracy.” “Our organization will not tolerate” any such equivalency, Rivera declared.
Rivera’s statement is dishonest. Del Rio never equated the rioting of January 6 with peaceful protests. He never condemned the protesters for marching to express dismay at the killing of George Floyd and/or alleged systemic racism by America’s police forces.
Del Rio condemned only the rioting indulged in by a small minority of the 2020 protesters — the violent ones who, for example, burned businesses down (and, he might have added, injured and killed people). It was this destructive lawlessness, not peaceful protests, that he compared to the violent acts of those who stormed the Capitol.
I understand why liberals want to sweep the violence of 2020 under the rug. But that desire doesn’t excuse Rivera’s misrepresentation of Del Rio’s remarks, as he lightened his assistant’s bank account by 100 grand.
One can agree of disagree with Del Rio’s comparison. As I have argued, there are similarities and differences between the BLM rioting and that of January 6.
But to fine an employee $100,000 for a comparison with which one disagrees is beyond the pale. So is lying about what that employee said. So is declaring that a sports team will not tolerate the expression of views about current events with which it strongly disagrees.
Rivera made a perfunctory acknowledgement of Del Rio’s free speech rights, but then sniffed “words have consequences and [Del Rio’s] words hurt a lot of people in our community.” Did they? How many peoples’ feelings were “hurt” and will they ever get over it? Did the team conduct a survey?
It doesn’t matter. Del Rio shouldn’t be fined $100,000 for hurting the feelings of left-liberals in the D.C. area, no matter what the number of the offended is. Nor should he be fined for expressing political views Rivera strongly disagrees with.
I’ve been a passionate fan of Washington’s football teams for more than 60 years. It’s going to be hard for me to support the current incarnation as long as Ron Rivera is the coach.
As Paul notes, Del Rio did not mention “peaceful” protest, much less equate it to the violence at the Capitol. His real “sin” was his refusal to ascribe significance to a distinction that Barry Svrluga and the rest of the wokerati think makes all the difference—the distinction between the impetus for the perpetrators’ resort to criminal behavior on those separate occasions: “because police officers continue to kill Black people” versus “baseless claims of a stolen election.” Del Rio’s failing, in other words, amounts to not agreeing with the looters, the arsonists, and Svrluga.
Now back to Warriors/Celtics
Thanks for the great comment, Ron.
As for an internal appeal, I don't know the inner workings of the Commanders, but I doubt there is a formal appeal mechanism. Del Rio could go to the team president, I suppose, but my impression is that he's at least as woke as Rivera and, in any case, probably lacks the clout to overrule Ron. Del Rio could go to the owner, but I'm sure Dan Snyder would back his head coach.
As for legal recourse, I don't know what it would be. Offhand, I can't think of a legal theory that would work in court.
When an NFL player gets punished, he can take it to arbitration under the collective bargaining agreement. (As an attorney, I helped NFL teams uphold the penalty in some of these cases.) However, coaches aren't covered by a CBA, so this mechanism isn't available.