buffalo bill safety Damar Hamlin said on Wednesday that he never intended to offend anyone by attending the Super Bowl wearing a jacket that critics say features an offensive image of Jesus.
“After talking to my parents, I understand how uncomfortable my coat can be for some people,” Hamlin wrote in a note. Post on my Twitter account. “I never intended to hurt or disrespect anyone, the jacket is abstract art to me.”
Hamlin closed the thread of his two posts by saying he would continue to learn from the situation and added: “My beliefs and relationship with God are not tied to images. show.”
The sophomore continues to recuperate after having to resuscitate on the field following cardiac arrest during a game in Cincinnati six weeks ago.
He caused quite a stir on Super Bowl Sunday wearing his Takashi Murakami “Travis Jesus” stadium jacket during pregnancy ceremonies and while sitting in NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s box during the game in Glendale, Arizona.
The back of the jacket features an abstract illustration of Jesus on the cross below the word “Eternal”. The front has an abstract depiction of the face of Jesus and seems to be related to a Bible verse that reads: “Without end or beginning there is no day and night.”
Among the critics is the former NFL running again Adrian Petersonwho called the coat the second “blasphemous” thing.
A day later, Peterson wrote in an Instagram post that he cleared the air with Hamlin.
Peterson wrote: “After speaking with Damar, I understood that it did not come from a malicious intent. “I’m sorry to have offended you, I just felt offended at the time as a man who loved and respected our Lord and Savior.”
Hamlin who received NFLPA’s Alan Page Community Award last week, participated in a pregnancy ceremony in which NFL honors Bills and Bengals medical and training staff as well as first responders who treated the 24-year-old from the Pittsburgh area on the field, along with staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he spent nearly a week recuperating.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
