Ex-Panthers owner Jerry Richardson will not fight to have statue restored

The statue honoring former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson was removed from outside Bank of America stadium on Wednesday, and the 83-year-old reportedly has no plans to contest the decision or fight to have it restored.

The Panthers said in a statement Wednesday that they were moving the statue of Richardson to a different location “in the interest of public safety,” as there were concerns that protestors could try to take it down. However, Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer reported on Thursday that the team has no plans to put the statue back in its original spot or display it somewhere else in the future. The Panthers want it removed permanently, and Richardson is not going to fight them on the issue.

BREAKING on Jerry Richardson statue: Sources tell me it’s GONE forever from B of A stadium.
Panthers want it out permanently. And a source says the statue is NOT important to Richardson. He’s turned that page and isn’t going to champion any lawsuits. @theobserver story coming.

— Scott Fowler (@scott_fowler) June 11, 2020

The statue of Richardson was constructed several years ago as an 80th birthday gift. That was before Richardson was forced out as the owner of the Panthers after it was revealed that he has reached multiple confidential settlements with his former employees over workplace misconduct. The allegations included both sexual and racial components.

New Panthers owner David Tepper said when he bought the team in 2018 that there was a legal obligation to not remove the Richardson statue, which likely meant Richardson wrote into his contract with Tepper that the statue must stay. If that was the case, Richardson is apparently not planning to force his former team to honor the agreement.