Dez Bryant accused a reporter of using the n-word in reference to Dallas Cowboys players.
The African-American journalist denies using the offensive word, and his colleagues in the Fourth Estate say they heard him say no such thing.
The Cowboys receiver lost his cool on Thursday as he confronted ESPN’s Jean-Jacques Taylor in the locker room, prompting MMQB’s Robert Klemko, who witnessed the exchange, to tweet that Bryant had raged, “Until they stop disrespecting this team I don’t give a f—. Mother——- sick!”
Bryant had left the locker room when he saw the tweet, triggering him to reenter the locker room to confront Klemko.
According to NFL Network’s Desmond Purnell, the initial verbal contretemps between Bryant and Taylor took several minutes. Burnell said, “Bryant told the other reporter how he was upset that his name had appeared in some articles, his name had appeared in some tweets where he was portrayed in an inaccurate fashion, said that he was tired of him and his teammates being disrespected amongst other things.”
ESPN reported:”Bryant was upset about a story written last week by ESPN’s Jean-Jacques Taylor. The two exchanged words before wide receiver Devin Street attempted to get involved. Street then claimed Taylor used a racial epithet. Taylor, who is black, denied using the slur. Three others present in the locker room confirmed that Taylor did not use a racial epithet.”
Bryant later tweeted:
After Bryant reentered the locker room, his teammate Jason Whitten stopped the interview, but the situation was only resolved when coach Jason Garrett convinced Bryant to leave.