Five St. Louis Rams players took to the field Sunday, honoring the Ferguson protests by displaying the “hands up, don’t shoot” gesture, the symbol of this movement. The move upset the St. Louis Police Association who released a strongly worded statement asking that the players be punished.
The NFL declined but, now there’s a new battle between St. Louis police and Rams’ brass over an “apology,” or lack thereof. St. Louis police chief Jon Belmar claims Rams COO Kevin Demoff apologized on behalf of the organization. The Rams said no, that’s not exactly how it went down. And then, it spilled over to Twitter.
St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar sent out this email via STL Today.
Members of the Department,
I received a very nice call this morning from Mr. Kevin Demoff of the St. Louis Rams who wanted to take the opportunity to apologize to our department on behalf of the Rams for the “Hands Up” gesture that some players took the field with yesterday.Mr. Demoff clearly regretted that any members of the Ram’s organization would act in a way that minimized the outstanding work that police officers and departments carry out each and every day. My impression of the call was that it was heartfelt and I assured him that I would share it with my staff.
Thank you for your hard work, … one night to go. Stay safe.
That probably would’ve upset the players, no? Demoff then clarified his comments via ESPN:
“In those conversations, I expressed regret that players actions were construed negatively against enforcement,” Demoff told ESPN.com.
“At no time in any of the conversations did I apologize for the actions of our players,” Demoff added. “[The Rams] do believe it is possible to support both our players’ first amendment rights and the efforts of local law enforcement to make this a better community.”
That sounds like, “I’m sorry you feel that way” i.e. Yo bad you attributed bad feelings to our actions. But it didn’t end there, the St. Louis PD responded with a Tweet providing a definition of “apology”
Here’s the Rams’ statement. The word you won’t find is “apologize.” Dunno what Demoff said to Dotson privately. pic.twitter.com/U0jC4iqfXa
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) December 2, 2014
