Following the controversy from his comments last week regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has deleted his Twitter account.
Del Rio initially commented on the insurrection via Twitter ahead of Congressional hearings, comparing the insurrection to the protests after George Floyd was killed, which he called “riots.” He later doubled down on his comments to the media, leading to more public criticism.
“Let’s get right down to it, what did I ask?” Del Rio said Wednesday. “A simple question: Why are we not looking into those things? Because it’s kind of hard for me to say I can realistically look at it, I see the images on TV, people’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down—no problem.
“And then we have a dustup at the Capitol, nothing burned down and we’re gonna make that a major deal. I just think it’s kind of two standards.”
During the attack on Jan. 6, four people died and the Capitol suffered $1.5 million in damages. According to the United States Department of Justice, there were more than 725 arrests, more than 225 people were charged with a crime and 140 total police officers were assaulted.
Not long after, Del Rio issued an apology on social media for what he said.
“I made comments earlier today in referencing the attack that took place on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Del Rio wrote. “Referencing that situation as a dust-up was irresponsible and negligent and I am sorry.”
Commanders coach Ron Rivera also fined his defensive coordinator $100,000, which the team said it will donate to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
“His comments do not reflect the organization’s views and are extremely hurtful to our great community here in the DMV,” Rivera said in a statement.
