The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for what he claims was an “inadvertent” obscene gesture towards fans at the New York Jets’ MetLife Stadium on Sunday. Viral clips captured Jones appearing to flash his middle finger at Jets fans during the Cowboys’ 37-22 win. Jones claimed he was actually trying to give Cowboys fans in the stadium the thumbs up as his team rolled towards victory late in the fourth quarter.
The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for what he claims was an “inadvertent” obscene gesture towards fans at the New York Jets’ MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
Viral clips captured Jones appearing to flash his middle finger at Jets fans during the Cowboys’ 37-22 win. Jones claimed he was actually trying to give Cowboys fans in the stadium the thumbs up as his team rolled towards victory late in the fourth quarter.
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“That was unfortunate. That was kind of an exchange with our fans out in front of us,” Jones said on Tuesday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas. “There was a swarm of Cowboys fans out in front – not Jets fans, Cowboys fans. The entire stadium was brimming with enthusiasm of Cowboys, and certainly late in the game.
“[The gesture] was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we made our last touchdown, and we were all excited about it. There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that. I just put up the wrong show on the hand. That was inadvertently done. I’m not kidding. If you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental. But it got straightened around pretty quick. I had a chance to look at it. It got straightened out pretty quick, but the intention was ‘thumbs up,’ and basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down excited.”
Jones should have no problems settling the fine – he has an estimated net worth of around $16bn. His fellow billionaire owners have also been fined large amounts by the NFL in recent years. The league fined Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper $300,000 for tossing a drink at fans during a January 2024 game, while then Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 in 2009 for making an obscene gesture at Bills fans after his team defeated Buffalo.
Jones, who has a flair for publicity, had a busy offseason as he was criticized by large parts of the Cowboys’ fanbase when the team traded their best player, pass rusher Micah Parsons, to the Green Bay Packers. He was also a central figure in a Netflix documentary that explored how he built the Cowboys into the most valuable – although not most successful – sports franchise in the world.
Category: General Sports
