The Cleveland Browns call running back Isaiah Crowell’s apology for posting online a drawing of an ISIS- or ninja-like character slashing the throat of a policeman “insufficient.”
“We have spoken to Isaiah regarding his extremely disturbing and unacceptable social media decision,” a team spokesman explained. “It was completely inappropriate and we have made him aware of our high level of disappointment. Isaiah has apologized but also knows that just an apology is insufficient and that he must take steps to make a positive difference after a very negative and impactful post.”
The transfer from Georgia to Alabama State posted the grisly picture after policemen killed African American men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge but before an extremist murdered five law enforcement officers at a Black Lives Matter march in Dallas. The 23-year-old back received 33 “likes” after posting before quickly deleting this on Instagram:
Posted and then deleted from Isaiah Crowell’s Instagram. pic.twitter.com/5gquTsL1Qc
— CST (@CLEsportsTalk) July 11, 2016
The team’s disappointment in the player comes after a Cleveland.com poll found 70 percent of respondents desiring the team mete out the most severe punishment possible and a prominent Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist calling the running back’s decision “despicable,” “repugnant,” “hateful,” “stupid,” “divisive,” and “unthinkable” all in the first line of his article. At fan forum DawgTalkers.net, Browns die-hards sticking with a team last winning a playoff game before the birth of the iPod, McKayla Maroney, and Barack Obama’s political career declared their support for Crowell as dead as the cop in the picture he posted. “He’s too effing STUPID to play for my football team,” one commenter claimed, while another simply noted, “dude needs to be cut yesterday.”
Crowell averaged 3.8 yards per carry last season, rushing for four touchdowns and 706 yards. Thirty-four backs in the league boasted more yards per carry. Entering his third season, he appears atop the depth chart at running back for most observers of the Cleveland Browns. But his social media fumble may alter the assessment of the Browns brass as it already has the inhabitants of the dawg pound.
Calling posting the gruesome picture showing a knife at the gushing wound of a policeman with his arms behind his back a “poor decision,” a “mistake,” and “very wrong,” Crowell apologized on Monday. He noted, “Last week was an emotional and difficult week as we saw extreme acts of violence against black men across our country as well as against police officers in Dallas.”
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