After calling the Jan. 6 a “dust-up,” Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has deleted his Twitter account.
The Washington Commanders had yet another controversy on their hands thanks to defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. After tweeting out a take comparing the Jan. 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol to the George Floyd protests, Del Rio doubled down on it, calling the attack in Washington D.C. a “dust-up.”
Days after posting a statement of apology for the “dust-up” comment and being fined $100,000 by the team, Del Rio’s Twitter account is now non-existent as of June 11.
Jack Del Rio deletes Twitter account after calling Jan. 6 a ‘dust-up’
You can now add this to the list of other debacles the Commanders have dealt with since Feb. 2 this year — when they changed their team name to put their tumultuous past behind them.
Spoiler alert: It’s a long list.
The controversy surrounding Del Rio began with the aforementioned tweet ahead of the Jan. 6 Committee’s first public hearing. The defensive coordinator wrote “why the summer of riots, looting, burning and the destruction of personal property is never discussed.” He then made the “dust-up” comment while speaking with the media during Washington’s minicamp.
Hours later, Del Rio apologized for calling the insurrection a “dust-up,” writing that his choice of words were “irresponsible and negligent.”
He then learned that “freedom of speech” does not mean you are free from consequences for said speech.
On Friday, June 10, the Commanders released a statement announcing that Del Rio had been fined $100,000 for his comments and that the money would go to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund. Head coach Ron Rivera said in the statement that he was “disappointed” by his assistant coach’s comments and called the attack on the Capitol “an act of domestic terrorism.” You can read the full statement in the Commanders’ tweet below.
The attack on the Capitol was an attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election in hopes of keeping Donald Trump in office, who lost the presidential election to Joe Biden in Nov. 2020. Lives were lost and over 140 police officers were injured as a result of the attack. Hence, there are public hearings investigating what took place on and leading up to Jan. 6, 2021.
After a week in the news, Del Rio decided to delete his Twitter account altogether.
