Yesterday, a former NFL executive has confessed to teams not disciplining players in “hundreds and hundreds” of domestic violence incidents during his 30 years in the league. Today, he’s saying his comments were taken out of context.
“I made a mistake,” Jerry Angelo told USA TODAY Sports in a story published Thursday. “I was human. I was part of it. I’m not proud of it.”
The former Chicago Bears General Manger from 2001-2011 admitted to asking if everyone involved in player domestic disputes were ok, then simply moving on. He admitted to sweeping player physical disputes with their partners under the rug.
In an interview with USA Today Sports in response to criticism of Roger Goodell handling of the Ray Rice incident, Angelo admitted to not reporting cases of domestic violence involving players because disciplinary action would have put his team at a competitive disadvantage.
The Bears released a statement later Thursday denying any knowledge of Angelo’s assertions. “We were surprised by Jerry’s comments and do not know what he is referring to,” the statement read.
This afternoon, Angelo asserted his comments have been twisted.
He said to CSNChicago.com. “When I was making a point to this person, I was making a point that over my 31 years in the National Football League I’ve seen a lot of changes. There were hundreds and hundreds of things over those years that I’ve seen that have gotten better. Domestic violence is one of those. There were no hundreds and hundreds [of cases] of domestic violence. I would have no knowledge of that or have any idea how I would authenticate that. . . . That was never the intent of [the writer’s] conversation with me.”