Jim Irsay still has plenty more to say.
After speaking out on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” about his 2014 DUI arrest — saying he is also “prejudiced against because I am a rich white billionaire” — the Colts owner was blasted on ESPN’s “First Take” on Wednesday, getting called an “entitled old brat” by personality Stephen A. Smith after getting criticised by Kimberley A. Martin.
The comments on the ESPN roundtable show did not appear to sit well with Irsay.
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“1st take,your gonna get your ass Sued,because there was NO Alcohol,No illegal Drugs/ $29,000 dollars is low for me to be carrying in ,2014 arrest/I give away $2000-$10,000 dollars to the homeless and needed on the street,All the time and pass it on,making the world better,” Irsay wrote on X after the show discussed the Colts owner.
During his HBO interview with Andrea Kremer, Irsay, 64, described the encounter — in which he later pleaded guilty to one misdemeanour count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in September 2014 — and said that he had trouble walking when Indiana police asked him to because he had recently had hip surgery, not because of any painkillers.
Jim Irsay and Stephen A Smith.Source: FOX SPORTS
That’s when Irsay said he was “prejudiced against.”
“I am prejudiced against because I am a rich white billionaire,” he said. “If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in, of course not.”
After Kremer followed up and said people could take issue with how the words sounded, Irsay said: “I don’t care what it sounds like,” he said. “It’s the truth.
During “First Take,” Irsay’s comments on HBO were discussed at length, and Martin said she took issue with his words for a number of reasons, likening it to how the owner handled Jonathan Taylor this offseason when the running back held out of training camp in hopes of seeking a new contract.
“What’s frustrating is his comments, exemplify exactly what people think — NFL owners are detached,” she said.
“Just a total lack of awareness of their privilege and the flippancy of how they discuss their privilege. He came off like he’s a victim. And that anyone who has had as many opportunities as he has had share just by virtue of his name, the family he was raised in, and the colour of his skin — like it just bothered me on a lot of levels.”
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After host Molly Qerim made a few comments about the situation and how Irsay could’ve instead focused his comments on the gravity of his arrest, Smith then chimed in about his feelings on the matter.
“He doesn’t think about anything else, he just thinks about himself because he’s an entitled old brat,” Smith said.
“That’s really what it comes down to. And in the end, he’s lucky that he’s a national football league owner because they print money for crying out loud. You’ve got to be the stupidest person in the world to not make money as an NFL owner in this day and age.”
After the show aired, Irsay took to X, posting a number of thoughts, describing how his grandparents came to the United States “penniless” after escaping concentration camps and that he himself lived in a “horrible home” and that he “worked for my living/bought 30% of the Colts Bank Loan.”
Then, Irsay appeared to call out Martin for her words.
“And on 1st Take,the Woman that preceded Stephen A… how dare you pretend to know me; I don’t know your name and I don’t care to,” he posted on X.
“If my Black Mother Dorthy was still alive..you’d be in some big Hot Water! You are mean and ugly. Your [sic] a Nothing Burger.”
Martin, for her part, changed her name on X to: “Woman that preceded Stephen A” and also quoted Irsay’s last post, making a grammatical correction.
There’s no telling where this beef may go next.
This article was originally published at the New York Post and republished with permission.
2023-11-23 01:32:07
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