President Joe Biden called out the NFL’s hiring practices in an interview that aired Sunday, saying it’s “just some generic human decency” to have more diverse leaders in the league.
“The whole idea that a league that is made up of so many athletes of color, as well as so diverse, that there’s not enough African American qualified coaches ‘to manage these NFL teams,’ it just seems to me that it’s a standard that they’d want to live up to,” Biden said during an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt. “It’s not a requirement of law, but it’s a requirement, I think, of just some generic decency.”
He added, “It’s not a requirement of law, but it’s a requirement I think of just some generic decency.”
The president’s remarks come during a controversial time for the NFL. The league is at the center of a class-action lawsuit filed by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. Flores is accusing the league and several teams of discriminatory hiring practices.
When asked by Holt if the NFL should be held to a higher standard for diversity because of its broad influence, Biden responded that it should be kept to a “reasonable standard.”
In the NFL, where the players are predominantly people of color, only one Black head coach leads any of the 28 teams are currently employing a head coach. Four teams are officially without a head coach right now. There are only two other coaches who are non-Black; one is of Puerto Rican and Mexican descent, and the other is of Lebanese descent.
