Stephen Jackson: DeSean 'speaking the truth'

Cooper, a former Eagles wide receiver who is white, shouted a racial slur at Black security guard at a Kenny Chesney concert in 2013. Cooper later apologized to his teammates and was signed to a five-year extension by the Eagles in 2014. He was released by the team in 2016.

Stephen Jackson, who retired from the NBA in 2014 after playing 14 seasons and winning a championship with San Antonio in 2003, has been a voice for social activism since the death of his friend George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. Jackson is a former NBA analyst for ESPN.

DeSean Jackson spoke with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and general manager Howie Roseman — who both are Jewish — on Tuesday, a source told ESPN’s Tim McManus, with Lurie expressing deep disappointment about the social media posts. Jackson expressed a desire to educate himself and work directly with the Jewish community, and a short time later, his camp contacted the rabbi at Chabad Young Philly to discuss ways for Jackson to donate to and work with the organization.

The controversy spun out of Jackson’s Instagram story, on which he featured a quote he attributed to Hitler that said white Jews “will blackmail America. [They] will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were.”

He also shared two posts on Instagram — on Saturday and on Monday — expressing admiration for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center have identified as anti-Semitic. Those posts have since been deleted.

On Tuesday, Jackson posted an apology on Instagram, saying he “really didn’t realize what this passage [attributed to Hitler] was saying” and that he is “sorry for any hurt I have caused.”

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Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson apologizes after posting on his Instagram story an anti-Semitic message that he attributed to Adolf Hitler.

He posted an additional apology to his social media accounts after meeting with Lurie, saying “this apology is more than just words — it is a promise to do better.”

The Anti-Defamation League of Philadelphia on Tuesday said it appreciated his apology and said it was the organization’s “hope he uses this moment as a chance to work with the Jewish community and educate himself further on how dangerous and hurtful antisemitism is.”

Eagles wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, meanwhile, posted on Instagram on Wednesday that “the Jewish community is lashing out at me” for a comment he left on one of DeSean Jackson’s posts. Goodwin said his comment read: “I wish people commented this much on a BLM topic.”

Goodwin said Wednesday, regarding the reaction: “These disrespectful comments and threats need to stop.”

Stephen Jackson played in the Big3 in 2018 and ’19. The league canceled its 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic.