President Joe Biden ripped the National Football League during an interview that aired on Super Bowl Sunday for not having enough black coaches, claiming that it was due to “some generic deficiency.”
His remarks came on the heels of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s remarks recently that the league “won’t tolerate racism” and “won’t tolerate discrimination.”
“The commissioner pointed out they haven’t lived up to what they committed to. They haven’t lived up to being open about hiring more minorities to run teams,” Biden told NBC News anchor Lester Holt in the interview.
“Goodell says they’re gonna take a look at whether they can meet the standard. And the standard was set by someone who said this is something we should do,” noted Biden.
“The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color, as well as so diverse, that there’s not enough African American qualified coaches ‘to manage these NFL teams,’ it just seems to me that it’s a standard that they’d want to live up to,” he said. “It’s not a requirement of law, but it’s a requirement, I think, of just some generic decency.”
Both Biden’s and Goodell’s comments come after former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who is black, filed suit against the NFL and a number of teams claiming racial discrimination in the league’s hiring process.
The Daily Wire notes:
In the class-action suit filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Flores makes the claim that Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross pressured Flores to “tank” during the 2019 season, to the point that Ross offered Flores $100,000 for each loss during the season. He also claims that “Mr. Ross began to pressure Mr. Flores to recruit a prominent quarterback in violation of League tampering rules” at the end of the 2019 season.
Flores was fired as head coach of the Dolphins in January, following two winning seasons as head coach in Miami. It was the first back-to-back winning seasons for the organization since the 2003 season.
Flores claims that as a result of refusing to recruit the quarterback, he was “treated with disdain and held out as someone who was noncompliant and difficult to work with.” The suit alleges that the Dolphins labeled Flores as “difficult to work with” through the media.
The lawsuit names the Denver Broncos, the New York Giants, and the Dolphins. NBC Sports reported that Flores will amend his lawsuit to also include the Houston Texans.
Among other allegations, Flores claims that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 in bonus money for each game the team lost in order to move up in the NFL draft to grab a potential franchise quarterback.
“With regards to the allegations being made by Brian Flores, I am a man of honor and integrity and cannot let them stand without responding,” Ross said in a statement responding to the allegations.
“I take great personal exception to these malicious attacks, and the truth must be known. His allegations are false, malicious and defamatory. We understand there are media reports stating that the NFL intends to investigate his claims, and we will cooperate fully. I welcome that investigation and I am eager to defend my personal integrity, and the integrity and values of the entire Miami Dolphins organization, from these baseless, unfair and disparaging claims,” he added.
The New York Post adds that Ross could be forced to sell the team if the allegations turn out to be true:
The league’s investigation into Flores’ claim — made in the lawsuit where he alleges racism in NFL hiring practices and a “sham” interview conducted by the Giants — has just begun, but commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear last week that violating the competitive integrity of the game “won’t be tolerated.”
The discipline could be up to and including the other team owners voting Ross out of the league, according to an NFL Network report citing sources. A three-fourths vote would be required, the report states.
