Randy Moss Faces Backlash For His Hall Of Fame Tie

Some people are pressed because Randy Moss delivered his acceptance speech into the NFL Hall of Fame wearing a tie featuring the names of 12 Black Americans who were murdered by police.

Last week, Moss was honored with entry into the National Football League Hall of Fame. While many were excited about the achievement, others were raving about his tie that listed the Black Americans who were slain unjustly by police in recent years. Those who were named were: #SandraBland, #MichaelBrown, #AkielDenkins, #GregGunn, #TrayvonMartin, #TamirRice, #EricGarner, #FreddieGray, #AltonSterling, #WalterScott and #PaulONeal.

Moss had already planned on wearing the tie as soon as he found out he would be inducted into the HOF. “I just wanted to show those families that they’re not alone and bring some eyes and some light to the fact that, man, there’s still some families really hurting out here,” Moss told ESPN’s The Undefeated. “We’re in a crisis right now. You understand what I’m saying? Some people don’t want to see it, but all you have to do is open your eyes. There’s so much going on, you know what I’m talking about, and people need to understand that.”

While the Black community sent Moss praise the other side threw a tantrum in “probably 150 to 200” now deleted emails. “The Black community praised me and thanked me for shedding light on African-Americans dying. Then on the flip side, you’ve got sites where people are slamming me, saying ‘Hey, n—–, stay in your place. “They’re saying, ‘You’re a dumb black jock. You just need to stick to playing football, n—–.’”

Moss mentioned that he also had a conversation with a policeman who referred to the names listed as “criminals” who “broke the law.” 

“The point is that we’re all people,” Moss told the Undefeated. “People make mistakes. But you shouldn’t lose your life for a lot of the reasons that people have been. Now, the police officer I was [messaging with] agreed with me that some of those people should still be here. He agreed that they shouldn’t have lost their lives. That kind of made me feel good. We communicated about it and agreed on something. What I did, I didn’t mean it disrespectfully toward police. I didn’t call out any police officer or police department. I know police have tough jobs. “But I can’t ignore the other part of it. There are things that shouldn’t be happening. And then you have people in this country hurting from missing their loved ones. We just have to come together to admit what’s going on and try to fix it.”