Commanders Fine Defensive Coach Del Rio $100,000 For Dismissing Jan. 6 Riot As A ‘Dustup’

Topline

The Washington Commanders fined defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio $100,000 on Friday in response to comments he made this week downplaying the January 6 Capitol riot and comparing it to the 2020 protests around the death of George Floyd, which Commanders head coach Ron Rivera said were “extremely hurtful” to the Washington, D.C., community.

Key Facts

Del Rio posted a tweet Monday criticizing the January 6 committee’s decision to hold a primetime hearing, instead suggesting the government should be reviewing “the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of property,” referring to protests after the murder of George Floyd that turned violent.

The coach doubled down on his comments when speaking to reporters Wednesday, calling the Capitol storming a “dustup” and insisting he’d rather see a hearing on rioting in major cities during the summer of 2020.

Del Rio later issued an apology, calling his comments on the Capitol attack “irresponsible and negligent” before saying, “I stand by my comments condemning violence in communities across the country.”

Crucial Quote

“I want to make it clear that our organization will not tolerate any equivilency between those who demanded justice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the actions of those on January 6 who sought to topple our government,” Rivera said in a statement.

Tangent

Del Rio’s comments elicited a polarizing response. The president of the NAACP called for Rivera’s firing, while right-wing media figures hailed Del Rio as courageous for speaking his mind. A Facebook post from Fox News’ Dan Bongino saying Del Rio’s statement “took A LOT of guts” was the fifth most-popular link post on the platform over the past week, according to data compiled by social media tracking firm NewsWhip.

Key Background

The January 6 committee had long hyped its first primetime hearing, which took place Thursday night and was carried across major TV networks, except Fox. Several new revelations surfaced at the hearing, including that Ivanka Trump did not believe there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election and that “multiple” Republican members of Congress allegedly asked for pardons after the rioting. Trump blasted much of the news that emerged from the hearing in a series of posts on his social media platform Friday morning.

Further Reading

‘Political Thugs’: Donald Trump Slams Jan. 6 Committee Hearing On Truth Social (Forbes)

Jan. 6 Committee Hearing: Riot Defendants Say Trump ‘Asked’ Them To Storm Capitol (Forbes)