Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson has decided to sell his team amid some disturbing allegations of workplace misconduct, and you won’t be surprised to hear which fellow owner has already come to his defense.
Shortly after news surfaced that Richardson is putting the Panthers up for sale after the season, Jerry Jones called the 81-year-old an “outstanding” man and said he is “very sad.”
“I’m very sad,” Jones said after his Dallas Cowboys beat the Oakland Raiders, per Clarence Hill of the Star-Telegram. “Jerry is one of the really, really, really outstanding men of football that I’ve ever met, and I really admire him. I know that he made it the old-fashioned way. He worked for it. He took what he made in a short time in pro football and turned it into a great business and then used that to get the Carolina franchise. So he’s a great story.”
Richardson may have once been a great story, but some excellent reporting from SI discovered he has reached four settlements over his workplace misconduct, all of which required confidentiality from the victim. Despite that, Jones clearly wants Richardson to be seen as a sympathetic figure.
“I’m saddened by any of the stories or things that might have incited this at this time,” Jones said. “He’s a battler; he’s a big man with a big heart. And by the way, that’s somebody else’s heart — he’s had a heart transplant.
“He’ll be the first to tell you he’s had a blessed life. I’m really sad. I want all of those kind of men we can have in the National Football League.”
Richardson has been accused of some disturbing sexual behavior, such as asking female employees for back rubs, requesting to shave their legs, and scrutinizing the looks of female employees wearing jeans on Fridays. He has also been accused of using a racial slur against a scout who left the organization.
You can understand Jones wanting to stick up for a person with whom he has a personal relationship, but he should probably tread lightly in this particular situation.
