Colts owner Jim Irsay is receiving some major blowback for comments he made in a recent HBO interview looking back on his 2014 DUI arrest.
Never one to keep his foot out his mouth, Irsay said of the charges:
I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire. If I’m just the average guy down the block, they’re not pulling me in, of course not. … I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s the truth. … I could give a damn what people think how anything sounds or sounds like. The truth is the truth, and I know the truth. … The arrest was wrong.
Safe to say this one didn’t go over well for him.
“Nothing said in this clip surprises me,” Jemele Hill replied. “And a reminder: Jim Irsay pulled himself up by the bootstraps by inheriting his father’s $6 billion business and the Indianapolis Colts. … Nothing like a good rags to riches story.”
“And he passes for a ‘progressive’ among this billionaires boys n girls club,” said Jason La Canfora. “When [will] the NFL have a less-horrible record in diversity and inclusion, especially at the highest ranks? … Not until or unless there is real representation in ownership. Don’t hold your breath.”
“Bro these legacy billionaires really are out here trying to make themselves out to be the victims in this world – what in the actual F is going on,” a user tweeted.
“This creepy, cringeworthy freak ‘owns’ an NFL team that’s 75% black. Yet, he feels like he’s the victim of prejudice. Ain’t that some real bulls–t,” a fan commented.
The Carmel Police Department said in a statement that it was “very sorry to hear” Irsay’s accusation of police prejudice against him.