(Bloomberg) -- National Football League hall-of-famer Terrell Owens commended former Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores for taking a stand against racism, after Flores filed a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging racist hiring practices by the organization.
“It's very sad to think that Brian Flores would just be coming up with these ideas of conversations that he had with the owner, and then now all of a sudden, ‘Racism doesn't exist,'” the former wide receiver said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Feb. 3. “Again, it's here. It's not going anywhere. And I think he did an admirable job, very noble, to basically risk, obviously, his future as a coach in the National Football League, by standing up by for something that he believes in.”
The NFL has only one Black head coach, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, after the Miami Dolphins fired Flores, followed soon after by the Houston Texans cutting David Culley last month. Flores alleged in his lawsuit that the league's “Rooney Rule,” meant to codify the consideration of candidates from underrepresented backgrounds for top jobs, doesn't adequately address racial bias. He also alleged that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross incentivized him to intentionally lose games so the Dolphins could have a better draft pick.
The NFL has said in a statement that Flores's claims were “without merit.” Ross denied assertions he asked Flores to “tank” games.
To Owens, the protests against anti-Black police violence and systemic racism that began in response to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 have created a “trickle-down effect” for other industries that need to grapple with their own history.
“I am an athlete that obviously speaks off the sleeve, off the cuff, so to speak. And these are certain things that I experienced when I played in the National Football League, and I knew back then, had I spoken on some of these topics then people probably would've just swept it under the rug,” he said.
Owens, an investor in the Black-owned social media platform TruSo, said he hopes inclusive social media platforms such as his can foster conversations.
“The Black community, the Black voices have been muted on some of the mainstreams of these social media platforms,” he said. “So we want to provide a platform for a lot of the Black community” in an engaging and accessible way.
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