Blue Lives Matter is calling foul on the NFL and on Tuesday rejected an offer to partner with the NY Jets because of one of their players.
—Should calling 911 on Black people for silly reasons be considered a hate crime?—
Jets senior manager of premium partnerships Anthony Bulak reached out to the pro-police group founder Joe Imperatrice with an offer to partner up this season.
“With the NFL season right around the corner, there is no better time to open up a conversation about how your business/organization can benefit from a partnership with the New York Jets,” reads a Tuesday email from the Bulak to the Blue Lives Matter founder, the NY Post reports.
But Imperatrice turned down that offer and blasted the team and the NFL while calling out player protests and Jets running back Isaiah Crowell, for once posting to Instagram a graphic photo of a cop’s throat getting cut.
“Although I’d love to work with an NFL team right now I feel it is not the right time. All over the United States players feel entitled to disrespect our first responders, our military members both past and present and our flag. These players make more money in a season than some people make in a lifetime and their ‘Issues’ are made up, exaggerated, and more times than not false,” he responded, according to emails shared with The Post.
“Once again I do appreciate the offer but revenue we have could better be spent on the families of officers killed in the line of duty protecting the ignorance of these individuals rather than contributing to their paycheck.”
—Murder trial for Texas police officer who killed 15-year-old Jordan Edwards to begin today—
Bulak responded by pointing out that Jets players had not kneeled during the national anthem.
“I appreciate you sharing your opinion and although I can’t comment too much on it what I will say is the Jets have never had a player protest our anthem. The Jets have always been supportive of our police, firefighters, EMTs, etc. and will continue to do so,” he wrote, including a flyer for the team’s First Responders Night.
Imperatrice however reminded him of Crowell’s violent picture he posted on Ingram with the caption: “Mood: They give polices all types of weapons and they continuously choose to kill us…#Weak.”
“If I am correct the JETS may have signed an individual who depicted a Grim Reaper slicing the throat of a police officer,” Imperatrice wrote, along with a photo of Crowell’s controversial 2016 post.
Crowell, was not playing for the Jets at the time. He played for the Cleveland Browns. He has since apologized for the post.