Monday Night Football analyst Jason Witten addressed the Washington Redskins’ signing of Ruben Foster earlier this week by saying that he had zero tolerance for domestic violence. It is an understandable stance coming from Witten, who runs the SCORE Foundation, a Texas-based charity involved in several programs to combat domestic violence and aid its victims.
Witten himself took some criticism for the stance. It was very different from his reaction to the Cowboys signing Greg Hardy in 2016. Hardy has been found guilty of assaulting his girlfriend, a conviction that was overturned when she failed to appear in court for his appeal.
Witten, a member of the Cowboys at that time, was asked directly about Hardy after Hardy’s first practice with the team. He responded “The guy works his tail off. Our job is to welcome him, show him the way we do things, and embrace him as a teammate, and he’s done everything you want. He’s a hard worker. Obviously he’s a talented player. I think he’s learned a lot from what he’s gone through in the last year. He’s had a good offseason.”
Black Sports Online’s Robert Littal is one of the voices calling the former Cowboys’ tight end out. He wrote an article on Monday titled “Why Jason Witten Must Address Why He Praised & Embraced Greg Hardy on Cowboys But Says He Has Zero Tolerance For Reuben Foster Signing”.
Witten took to Twitter yesterday to answer Littal and others asking the same question.
Thanks for your opinion, Robert. Privately, I let my opinion be known and agreed to disagree. That day after practice I chose not to be divisive. Prob went too far. On Monday with platform and no longer member of a team,I spoke my mind. Would love your support w/
SCORE Foundation https://t.co/0ipiGwX1Hi— Jason Witten (@JasonWitten) December 5, 2018
There is a level of freedom that comes with not being a guy’s teammate. It was certainly smart of Witten to tell his side of the story when it came to his comments about Greg Hardy. It will be interesting to see if this comes up on a future edition of Monday Night Football, or before ESPN+ airs Hardy’s first professional UFC bout.
