Jerry Jones Must 'Denounce Racism': ESPN Analyst Jay Williams

ESPN analyst Jay Williams is calling out Jerry Jones.

In a tweet on Thursday, Williams demanded that the Dallas Cowboys owner take a vocal stand against racism.

"It's time to hold people accountable," the former NBA player wrote. "I need to hear Jerry Jones publicly DENOUNCE RACISM. Haven't heard him do it yet."

Williams continued: "Call me woke or whatever the hell you want. Politicize it. I don't care. I want to hear this man tell me what he has learn from this experience."

The tweet comes after The Washington Post published a 1957 photo of Jones standing in a crowd of white people protesting against school integration in Arkansas. Jones has attempted to defend himself with claims that he was merely present at the civil rights clash as an observer.

Williams' tweet also included a video of him telling viewers to watch Thursday morning's edition of First Take on ESPN. He joined sports commentator Stephen A. Smith in discussing the scandal.

First Take aired a video taken Wednesday night of NBA star LeBron James comparing Jones' treatment with that of the Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving.

James stated in the clip that he was "disappointed" that the press hadn't asked him about Jones.

"I was wondering why I haven't gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo, but when the Kyrie thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that," he said.

Irving recently issued an apology after he was suspended by his team for making social media posts about an antisemitic movie. The watchdog group StopAntisemitism told Newsweek at the time that it was dissatisfied with the player's statement.

Following the clip of James, Williams looked into the camera to directly address Jones.

"I just want to specifically ask Jerry Jones to denounce racism," he said. "I think it's very important with where we're at in this time in history right now."

He then highlighted Jones' silence while then-NFL player Colin Kaepernick protested against racial injustice, as well as during the aftermath of George Floyd's murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. Williams further lambasted the owner's response to the 1957 photo scandal.

Jones defended himself to reporters last week, saying that he'd merely been an inquisitive teen at the time.

"That was, gosh, 65 years ago, and [I was a] curious kid," said Jones, who was 14 when the photo was taken. "I didn't know at the time the monumental event really that was going on. And I'm sure glad that we're a long way from that."

That response didn't sit well with Williams.

"You could tell that maybe he was curious, but there were a lot of people there who weren't curious," he continued on First Take. "There were a lot of people there who were racists, and that's OK to say."

Newsweek reached out to representatives for Williams and the Dallas Cowboys for comment.

Update 12/1/22, 2:26 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and background.

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