If there’s one thing we know about Jim Irsay, he’s going to say whatever is on his mind whenever he feels like it.
That’s almost never a good thing.
That’s certainly the case today with Irsay taking to social media to threaten legal action against ESPN because of a segment on First Take he didn’t like.
This all stems from an interview Irsay did on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel where he told Andrea Kremer he was targeted when he was arrested back in 2014 because he’s a “rich, white billionaire.”
Sounds stupid, right? Right. It’s not hard to see through that.
Stephen A. Smith, Kimberly Martin and ESPN’s First Take crew did just that and called him out for it. Irsay didn’t like it so now he’s hurling insults at people and threatening lawsuits against his league’s network partner. Sounds about right.
It’s just the latest mess Irsay has created for the NFL that it’ll need to jump in and handle.
Wait, hold up. Jim Irsay really said that?
Yes! I’m not kidding. He told Kramer that he was being targeted by the police back in 2014 when he was arrested because of his status as a “rich, white billionaire.” His words. Not mine.
Here’s the HBO clip where Colts owner Jim Irsay claims Carmel police were prejudiced against him during a DUI arrest for being “a rich, white billionaire”: pic.twitter.com/o2UywtFfMk
— Nate Atkins (@NateAtkins_) November 22, 2023
“Irsay: I am prejudiced against because I’m a rich, white billionaire. If I’m just the average guy on the block, they’re not pulling me in. Of course not.
Kremer: Do you know what it’s going to sound like when people hear you say they’re prejudiced against a rich, white billionaire?
Irsay: I don’t care what it sounds like. It’s the truth. I can give a damn what people think it sounds like. The truth is the truth.”
Kramer even tried to give him an out there to explain himself and he just refused it. He doubled down on it.
That's unfathomable
It is! It’s ridiculous on a number of levels.
Just set aside the rich, white billionaire thing for one second. Don’t worry! I promise we’ll get back to it. The thing about this situation is that Irsay actually admitted guilt.
Irsay was alleged to have “numerous prescription medication bottles containing pills,” according to police officers, along with $29.029 in cash. That actually happened. Nobody was picking on him. Those were choices he made.
Here’s where the rich, white billionaire part comes in. Following Irsay’s arrest officers filed four preliminary charges of felony drug possession against him but those charges were not included in the formal charges by the prosecutor, according to reporting from the Indianapolis Star.
Irsay’s guilty plea landed him 60 days in jail, but 58 days were suspended from his sentence and he was given two days’ credit for the single day he spent in jail on the initial arrest, according to ESPN.
If he was the “average guy on the block” he would’ve been in jail for a lot longer than he was.
This guy, man. What did First Take say about him?
The First Take crew completely obliterated him. As they should’ve.
NFL Reporter Kimberly Martin talked about how “detached” NFL owners are and said Irsay “came off like a victim.” Stephen A. Smith called him an “entitled old brat” and said he doesn’t think about anything but himself. “In the end, he’s lucky he’s a National Football League owner,” Smith continued to say.
This is the Jim Irsay/First Take situation for anyone confused.@JimIrsay made a stir by saying on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel that his 2014 arrest came from prejudice against white billionaires. On First Take this morning, @stephenasmith + others said this about it: pic.twitter.com/6U2101UzTM
— Nash Henry (@NashJagsNats22) November 22, 2023
Chris Russo also called him out, pointing out that Irsay reportedly had drugs in the car in 2014 along with the $29k in cash.
Jim Irsay is on quite a grievance tweet storm today.
His tweet below seems aimed at these comments made by Chris Russo on First Take earlier today https://t.co/TzEPzT0G1d pic.twitter.com/ovtPYYPee5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 22, 2023
I'm sure all of that got Irsay upset
Yup. Of course, it did. He turned to Twitter to fire back at First Take. He also threatened to sue the network.
1st take,your gonna get your ass Sued,because there was NO Alcohol,No illegal Drugs/ $29,000 dollars is low for me to be carrying in ,2014 arrest/I give away $2000-$10,000 dollars to the homeless and needed on the street,All the time and pass it on,making the world better❤️
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) November 22, 2023
He also completely insulted Martin. He called her everything but her name — literally.
And on 1st Take,the Woman that preceded Stephen A… how dare you pretend to know me; I don’t know your name and I don’t care to😡. If my Black Mother Dorthy was still alive..you’d be in some big Hot Water! You are mean and ugly🙃 Your a Nothing Burger😕
— Jim Irsay (@JimIrsay) November 22, 2023
Yikes, man.
Yikes is right. That’s Jim Irsay, the rich, white billionaire, insulting a Black woman in front of a national audience.
USA Today’s Nancy Armour pointed out everything wrong with that in this scathing column.
“Martin took the insult in stride, changing the name on her X profile to “Woman that preceded Stephen A” and responding to Irsay’s attack with a simple “You’re*”.
But the problem with Irsay’s screed, aside from the bad spelling and overuse of capital letters, is it echoes the tropes that have been used to dehumanize Black women for centuries.
Irsay might not have called Martin an “angry Black woman,” but he might as well have. Dorthy Bloodsaw might have had a profound impact on Irsay’s life, but in describing her role in raising him, and his children, he reduces her to a quintessential mammy caricature.”
As Armour points out, with the NFL already facing two racial discrimination lawsuits, having this out there for everyone to see just adds more fuel to the fire.
Irsay is completely out of line — again. He’s becoming a problem that the league needs to handle between this and the Jonathan Taylor situation from earlier this season.
The NFL needs to stop in here before the problems get worse.
