Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has come under-fire over his comments on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
In the interview, irsay spoke with Andrea Kremer about his struggle with addiction and alcoholism, the difficulties of his early, including the death of his sister in a car crash along with his infamous arrest in 2014 for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
It was a comment that Irsay made on this last point that got the most media attention Wednesday, as he blamed his arrest in part on the fact that he was “prejudiced against” for being a “rich, white billionaire.”
Irsay’s controversial comments became a talking point on ESPN’s First Take, in which Stephen A Smith, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo and Kimberly A. Martin criticized the Colts owner.
“His comments exemplify exactly what people think NFL owners are—detached,” said Martin. “Just a total lack of awareness of their privilege. And the flippancy of how they discuss their privilege.”
“He just thinks about himself because he’s an entitled, old brat. That’s really what it comes down to,” Smith said of Irsay. “In the end, he’s lucky that he’s a National Football League owner. Because they print money for crying out loud. You’ve got to be the stupidest person in the world to not make money as an NFL owner in this day and age. If he were an NBA owner, I assure you it would be a problem. Because you would have an abundance of players that would just look at him with utter disgust.”
Irsay got wind of the First Take segment and took to social media to respond. He expressed frustration in how HBO handled the interview and then turned to ESPN and First Take, going as far as threatening to sue the debate show and personal attack Martin.
The Colts are 5–5 on the season thus far, and host the Buccaneers on Sunday where they will go for their third straight win. As for Irsay, I think it might be time for him to put the phone down.
