Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver
DeSean Jackson apologized Saturday for using a gay slur, Philadelphia
Sports Daily reported.
During a June 30 interview on Sirius XM
radio's All Out Show with Rude Jude and Lord Sear, the
24-year-old Jackson took offense to a caller's question.
The caller, identified as Troy in
Tennessee, asked if Jackson had ever had his “[penis] knocked
around in the dirt.”
“What type of question is that?”
Jackson replied. “Say 'no homo,' gay-ass faggot.” (The audio is
embedded in the right panel of this page.)
“In a recent radio interview a caller
got really confrontational with me. I got very heated with the
caller, took it a bit too far and did not mean to offend anybody. I
meant no disrespect and a better choice of words was needed,”
Jackson said in a statement.
“I am sorry for using words that I
know to be hurtful and unacceptable. I have made a mistake and
would like to make it clear the words I used meant no disrespect to
the Gay and Lesbian Community. Intolerance is unacceptable and I
apologize to anyone I have offended.”
Jackson originally fought back against
his critics, suggesting he was being attacked.
“WANNA BRING ME DOWN BUT IM OK!! THEY
TRYING KNOCC ME OFF BUT IM STILL ON!!” he messaged to his more than
200,000 Twitter followers.
“THEY LOOKN 2 TAKE YA DOWN AT ALL
TIMES NO MATTER HOW POSITIVE AND WHAT U DO!! ITS ALWAYS AWAY THEY TRY
TO GET YA … IM STANDIN TALL,” he also messaged.
He later deleted the messages and
replaced them with a sentiment similar to his official statement.