HOME / NEWS / SPORTS

Why is Jerry Jones's hand trending? Cowboys owner trolled as Internet calls Dontari Poe 'bane of his existence'

In the September 13 pregame, defensive lineman Dontari Poe became the first Cowboys player to kneel during the National Anthem but it was Jerry Jones who grabbed eyeballs

National Football League team Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has hit the headlines over his odd hand placement during the National Anthem that was played at the start of the 2020 NFL regular season on September 13. Jones, who had remained firm in past years that his players stand for the National Anthem, mentioned ahead of the 2020 season that he expected players to display "grace" and also said that he wanted to reach a compromise with his players when it came to kneeling, as reported by the NFL.

He said he would prefer to implement a policy where the team kneels before but not during the National Anthem. This conveyed his soft stand towards players who wanted to protest against racial discrimination and police brutality on field. 

In the September 13 pregame, defensive lineman Dontari Poe was the first Cowboys player to kneel during the National Anthem. When he was kneeling, defensive linemen DeMarcus Lawrence, Tyrone Crawford and Antwaun Woods stood behind Poe. In August, Poe said that he had plans to kneel during the anthem and wanted to discuss the matter with Jones. On this, Jones said, "I will have visited with him more than likely on an individual basis. All of that will come to play, and we’ll have a plan to recognize what he’s trying to do and the way he’s trying to do it. And on the other hand be sensitive to what we’re about. We’re out there to ask the fans to follow, to be attentive to us. We’re well aware of the issue and well aware of where Dallas Cowboys fans are on it. All of that will be put in the hopper. We’ll see how we handle it."

Back in 2017, Jones had a different stand on kneeling and was against it. "We cannot in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag," Jones told the Dallas Morning News. "We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind, that the (NFL) and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag."

When Poe took the knee at Sunday’s pre-game, Jones appeared to be looking down on the field as seen from viral videos on the Internet. He seemed to be looking at field but his expression and strange hand posture resulted in Twitter having a field day.

A user tweeted the viral video showing Jones making the unusual hand gesture and wrote, "Jerry Jones with a closer look when he saw Dontari Poe kneeling." 

Some called him a White privileged owner while others found him disrespectful for not placing his hand appropriately. Some pointed out that he was smirking during the National Anthem when a player was kneeling.

A Cowboys fan wrote, "Jerry Jones makes it so damn hard to be a Cowboy fan." Another said, "It's like he doesn't know how a hand works. Jerry Jones makes a big deal about kneeling and can't spend the energy to hold his hand properly during the anthem. Such a double standard by a white privileged owner."

One asked, "What will bug Jerry Jones more tonight? Cowboys losing or seeing black men use their constitutional rights?" A user quipped, "Dontari Poe is the bane of Jerry Jones's existence and I want to buy his jersey so bad." One tweet read, "Jerry Jones looking like, 'who was that kneeling? Who’s number 95 again?'" and another said, "Jerry Jones looks like he's about to say 'Well I do declare...'"

These allegations were made by the internet and individual organizations, MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) cannot confirm them independently and nor does it support these claims being made on the Internet.