Stephen Jackson has had himself an interesting 24 hours.

The former NBA player has been in the news cycle recently as a friend of the late George Floyd, speaking on topics of racial and social injustice.

Earlier this week, he defended DeSean Jackson’s controversial Instagram posts, claiming that the Eagles receiver was “speaking the truth” when he invoked ADOLF HITLER AND LOUIS FARRAKHAN when attempting to share a pro-black message. Stephen later clarified what he meant and said “fuck Hitler, I love Jews,” among other things, in another video where he claimed that D Jax thought the Eagles might release him.

Wednesday night, he went on CNN with Don Lemon to further clarify the original clarification:

Jackson, in part:

“No, I don’t support any of that. Maybe I could have been more clear on what I thought DeSean was correct about, but I didn’t feel the need to go into a conversation that me and him had about they were treating him and Riley Cooper.”

At this point I feel like I’ve written the same thing 400 times, so let me finish with some bullet points:

  1. Riley Cooper would have been cut if not for Michael Vick and Jason Avant speaking up for him.
  2. Cooper’s return was not smooth. He got into a practice field fight with Cary Williams in September of that year.
  3. DeSean, I think, was just trying to send a pro-black message, but it becomes rendered null and void when Hitler and Farrakhan are referenced. This would be like a white person trying to cherry pick statements made by David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan.
  4. DeSean’s fate has yet to be determined, so it feels like we’re putting the cart in front of the horse with the Cooper talk. That will be more relevant once we find out what happens to D Jax.

Personally, I hate “cancel culture” and don’t want to see D Jax released. We’re a nation that values learning and education and second chances and I like what Mike Rubin and David Adelman are doing by inviting DeSean to the Holocaust Memorial Plaza down in center city.