Jerry Jones, the multibillionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, says he made an innocent mistake when he recently gave fans the middle finger, an act that earned him a $250,000 fine from the NFL.
Hold That Finger
Jones is trying to appeal the quarter-million-dollar fine, which alleges he made an offensive gesture during the Cowboys’ Week 5 win over the New York Jets on Oct. 6, NBC Sports reported.
He has until Oct. 10 to officially do so.
In an interview on his weekly radio show on 105.3 The Fan, Jones does not deny he used his middle finger to wave at people from his luxury box at MetLife Stadium.
What he is contesting is that he meant to give Dallas fans a celebratory thumbs-up as the Texas team cruised to a 37-22 victory over the Jets on their New Jersey home field.
He also notes that no Jets fans were present during his bird-flipping; the viral moment was among die-hard Cowboys supporters, he said.
“That was kind of an exchange with fans out in front of us,” Jones said. “There was a swarm of Cowboys fans out in front — not Jets fans — Cowboys fans. The entire stadium was brimming with enthusiasm of Cowboys, certainly late in the game. That was inadvertent on my part. The intention was thumbs up and basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down and excited,” he said.
Jones, who is estimated to be worth $14 billion by Forbes, is one of a few NFL owners who have gotten carried away and fined for bad behavior on game day.
The late Bud Adams of the Tennessee Titans was fined a quarter of a million dollars in 2009 for sticking out both of his middle fingers inside his box during a Titans home victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Just like Jones, Adams flashed the double birds in celebration after his team’s 41-17 win, a gesture captured on video that quickly spread online. He later apologized, saying he “got caught up in the excitement.”
Then there was Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper, who was fined $300,000 last season for throwing a drink at fans during a January 2024 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Tepper reportedly reacted out of frustration as his team’s season ended in a 26-0 shutout, a moment that the NFL later called “unacceptable conduct” for an owner.
