“That was a bit unfortunate”
Club owner causes scandal – and provides strange reasons
Updated October 8, 2025 – 7:50 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Jerry Jones is considered the enfant terrible of the NFL. The 82-year-old club owner rarely misses a beat. Now he caused a stir with an astonishing explanation for wrongdoing.
Jerry Jones doesn’t care that much about what’s politically correct. The owner of the Dallas Cowboys is known for his clear words. Even if, in the opinion of many, they are completely inappropriate. The now 82-year-old head of the successful NFL franchise caused outrage several times with racist comments. He insulted a fellow club owner as a “slacker” and threatened league boss Roger Goodell with removing him.
Among other things, it is said that he had an illegitimate affair with a stewardess, which presumably resulted in a daughter. When she demanded that Jones acknowledge paternity, he quickly sued the woman for million-dollar compensation. Jones’ fortune is estimated at more than $20 billion, according to Forbes.
The list could go on for a while, but let’s get to the latest scandal that Jones is said to have provoked. During his Cowboys’ 37:22 victory over the New York Jets on Sunday, Jones gave a fan the middle finger from his box at the stadium in New Jersey. The 82-year-old had celebrated his team’s touchdown against the hopelessly inferior Jets, then stuck out the finger and pointed it at the addressee again as if in confirmation.
However, Jones’ statement after the game caused a surprise. “That was a little unfortunate,” the Cowboys owner said. “It was a kind of exchange with our fans who were sitting in front of me.” However, numerous observers of the scene, which was also circulated on a video on social media, claimed to have seen something different. Accordingly, Jones responded to the provocation of a Jets fan.
“[Die Geste] was unintentional on my part because it was right after our last touchdown and we were all really ecstatic. There was no hostilities or anything like that. I just made a wrong gesture with my hand. That was unintentional. “No joke.”
However, some fans did not buy this reasoning from the NFL veteran. “What kind of excuse is that, please?” wrote one X user. And another said: “Oh, come on, Jerry, just own it.” Another: “He didn’t really say that, did he? Jerry, I’m begging you. That’s a blatant lie.”
The league apparently saw it the same way. The NFL fined the Cowboys owner $250,000, according to a statement Tuesday. It is exactly the same amount that the owner of the Tennessee Titans was sentenced to in 2009: because he insulted the opposing fans with the extended middle finger.