Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis took responsibility for a heavily criticized post from the team’s Twitter account in response to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday.
The Raiders tweeted “I CAN BREATHE” Tuesday evening, a paraphrasing of a quote from Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd. After Chauvin was convicted of murder in the death of George Floyd on Tuesday, Philonise Floyd said “Today, we are able to breathe again,” a call back to his brother’s plea of “I can’t breathe” when Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes in May 2020.
“If I offended the family, then I’m deeply, deeply disappointed,” Davis told The Athletic. Davis also said the post will not be deleted.
“I could un-pin it and let it run its course. It’s already out there,” Davis said. “It’s not an apology. I’m not embarrassed by what I said, but I did learn something now.”
Davis also said he was not aware that New York Police Department supporters wore “I CAN BREATHE” shirts following the 2014 killing of Eric Garner.
“Let me say this right off the bat: I was not aware of that,” Davis said. “Absolutely not. I had no idea of that. That’s a situation that I was not aware of. I can see where there could be some negativity towards what I said based on that.”
Numerous sports leagues, franchises and athletes posted about Chauvin’s conviction on Tuesday.
