Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson caused outrage on Monday when he shared an apparent Adolf Hitler quote to his Instagram story. Jackson posted two different pictures with positive remarks about Louis Farrakhan -- who has been identified as anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center -- as well as pictures on his story feed of a quote he attributed to Hitler, in which "white Jews" are accused of trying to "blackmail America."
DeSean Jackson apologized for the posts on Tuesday, but former NBA player Stephen Jackson defend the wide receiver and his posts. In an Instagram video that has since been deleted, Stephen Jackson, who has become a voice for social injustice following the murder of his friend George Floyd at the hands of a Minnesota police officer in May, claimed that the Eagles wideout was "trying to educate himself," and "speaking the truth" with the use of the attributed Hitler quote. According to Snopes, the quote "originated in an unsourced article published by a disreputable web site," not Hitler.
"So I just read a statement that the Philadelphia Eagles posted regarding DeSean Jackson's comments. He was trying to educate himself, educate people and he's speaking the truth. Right? He's speaking the truth," Stephen Jackson said in the video. "You know he don't hate nobody, but he's speaking the truth, the facts that he know and try to educate others. But y'all don't want us to educate ourselves.
"If it's talking about the Black race, y'all ain't saying nothing about it. They killing us, police killing us and treating us like s---. Racism at an all-time high, but ain't none of you NFL owners spoke up on that. Ain't none of you teams spoke up on that. But the same team had a receiver that say the word n----- publicly, and they gave him an extension. I play for the Big 3. We have a Jewish owner. He understands where we stand and some of the things we say, but it's not directed to him. It's the way we been treated. Philadelphia, y'all need to repost this."
Stephen Jackson then brought up another wide receiver, Riley Cooper, who used to play for the Eagles. Back in 2013, Cooper was attending a Kenny Chesney concert in Philadelphia and got caught on video saying that he would "fight every n----- here" after he wasn't allowed to go backstage at the show. Cooper was fined for his comments, but ended up signing a five-year contract extension with the team in 2014. The former fifth-round pick played three more seasons in Philadelphia.
The former NBA player said that the treatment DeSean Jackson has suffered is more severe than anything Cooper faced following his comments.
Stephen Jackson's show with fellow NBA player Matt Barnes, "All the Smoke," is part of Showtime Sports, a ViacomCBS company. He released a statement on his Instagram account following the deletion of the original video:
The Eagles have not reprimanded DeSean Jackson outside of releasing a statement on the matter on Tuesday.
