Texans Owner Regrets Apologizing for ‘Inmates Running the Prison’ Comment

Bob McNair clarifies that he was referring to NFL executives, not players.

Owner Robert McNair of the Houston Texans on the field before a game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on December 3, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee.  (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Owner Robert McNair of the Houston Texans on the field before a game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium on December 3, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
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Texans owner Bob McNair isn’t sorry for saying “we can’t have the inmates running the prison” to his fellow NFL owners last fall.

McNair, who did apologize for the remark afterward, now says he is sorry for saying he was sorry.

“The main thing I regret is apologizing,” McNair told the Wall Street Journal and clarified the “inmates” he was referring to were league executives, not NFL players.

“We were talking about a number of things, but we were also washing some of our dirty linen, which you do internally. You don’t do that publicly. That’s what I was addressing: The relationship of owners and the league office,” McNair said. “In business, it’s a common expression. But the general public doesn’t understand it, perhaps.”

That public included most of Houston’s players, as the majority of the team took a knee during the national anthem the Sunday after news of McNair’s “inmates” comment leaked out.

If the Texans were playing this week, McNair’s revocation of his apology would likely provoke a similar response.

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