PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson says he’s been educating himself after facing backlash for sharing anti-Semitic posts on social media in July.
“The aftermath of everything has been a long process,” Jackson said Wednesday, speaking to reporters for the first time since the incident. “I’ve been just using the time to educate myself and really just man up to the actions I took and just educate and learn from it.”
Jackson initially posted a screenshot of a quote widely attributed to Adolf Hitler, saying in part: “Jews will blackmail America.” In another post, Jackson showed support for Louis Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who is known for anti-Semitic rhetoric.
He apologized in a video on Instagram.
“Over the past few months I kind of had to reflect on just life,” Jackson said four days before the Eagles visit the Washington Football Team. “People make mistakes in life, and it was a mistake I made and I had to own up to it as a man, which I did, but I think I’m taking the proper steps to educate and I’m learning from something I didn’t really know too much about.”
Jackson has agreed to join New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman on a trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Edelman promised he’d go with Jackson to the nearby National Museum of African American History and Culture. Jackson also accepted an offer from a Holocaust survivor to visit the site of a concentration camp in Poland.
“I thought the social media posts were disgusting and appalling,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said last week. “I’ve known DeSean for a long time. He has, I think, really understood the ramifications of that appalling post. So far, everything that we’ve asked him to do to both educate himself and to learn and take action, he’s done completely. So, I would hope that would continue.”
Jackson, a three-time Pro Bowl pick, is in his second stint in Philadelphia, returning last season to the team that drafted him in the second round of the 2008 draft.
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