Philadelphia Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie has yet to punish wide receiver DeSean Jackson for admiringly posting antisemitic quotes attributed to Nazi madman Adolf Hitler. Interestingly, the timing of the controversy coincides with the release of a documentary on Hitler released by Lurie’s production company.
On July 9, Lurie, who is Jewish, announced that in partnership with Cinetic Media, he is set to release a film produced by his production company, Play/Action Pictures, entitled The Meaning Of Hitler , according to Deadline.
Deadline went on to describe the film: “The Meaning of Hitler uses the title of the bestselling book from 1978 to put a provocative spotlight on our culture’s fascination with Hitler and Nazism as it sets itself against the backdrop of the current rise of white supremacy, the normalization of anti-semitism and the weaponization of history itself.”
Lurie gushed about the film.
“We couldn’t be prouder that The Meaning of Hitler is the first completed film made by our new documentary production company, Play/Action Pictures,” Lurie said. “I envisioned Play/Action to be a leading creative force for films that engage with the most crucial and challenging issues of our time. The rise of white supremacy and neo-fascism in the United States and the world over are among the most important and serious threats we face today.”
However, despite Lurie’s proud and principled stand against anti-Semitism with his new film, he has thus far allowed the most blatant recent example of such hate grow right inside his own NFL team.
On Monday, Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson raised eyebrows after it was reported that he had posted the anti-Jewish conspiracy theories of Adolf Hitler and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, to his more than one million Instagram followers.
Nearly a day passed before the Eagles finally released a public statement about Jackson’s outrageous posts. Though, that statement contained no specific plans to punish Jackson and left the matter of disciplinary action very vague. All the Eagles said was that they had “spoken” to Jackson to let him know that quoting Adolph Hitler is a no-no, and that “appropriate action” would be taken.
It was a “productive and meaningful conversation,” the team insisted, a discussion which they will continue to have with the player, they insisted. However, despite his post quoting Hitler and his sharing of videos made by notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, the team took no concrete action against the player.
To date, it’s been nearly four days after Jackson’s posts became a scandal, Jeffrey Lurie and his NFL team have made no move at all to punish DeSean Jackson.
In his apology, Jackson promised to “learn” about anti-Semitism. One would think that Laurie, who is a producer of films about anti-Semitism, just might have had more to say to this player about his outrageous behavior, not to mention more to say to the fans.
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