After saying he didn't want to play in Brazil, Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Darius Slay has backtracked his earlier comments and apologized. Still, it didn't keep New York Giants wide receiver Darius Slayton from clearing up the NFL-Brazil mix-up with people mistaking him for Darius Slay.
The WR took to X, formerly Twitter, to clear up any confusion from the people of Brazil.
“Dear people of Brazil my name is Darius SlayTON I play WR for the Giants i am innocent 😭,” Slayton said, eliciting laughs and jokes from the comments, particularly after Brazil banned X last week.
The Giants and Brazil
Darius Slayton felt the need to speak up after Eagles cornerback Darius Slay expressed his reluctance to play in Brazil on Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season. On Friday, the Eagles will play the Green Bay Packers in the first-ever NFL game played in South America.
Slay made his comments during an interview with PHL Eagles Nation.
“I do not want to go to Brazil. You want to know why? I'm going to tell you why. They already told us not to leave the hotel. They told us we can't do too much going on, because the crime rate is crazy. I'm like, ‘NFL, why would you want to send us somewhere with a crime rate this high?' I told my family do not come down there because I'm not going to be nowhere to be found,” he explained.
Understandably, his insensitive comments sparked controversy among fans, which made it look like the entirety of Brazil was like the 2002 classic film “City of God.” However, many of his teammates, like wide receiver A. J. Brown, expressed the same concerns.
After the furor, though, Slay walked back his comments.
“I want to apologize to anyone I offended, that wasn't my intention. I'm looking forward to playing in your beautiful country and I've heard y'all are very passionate just like our amazing Eagles fan. Just a few more days, can't wait!” he said.
On the other hand, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni addressed his players' Brazil complaints but kept focus on the game.
“We're going there to play and win a football game,” he said on Sunday. “That's our goal. That's our only goal as we go down there. And so, it's just getting everybody in the right mindset of what you need to be when you go down there. You can control the things that you can control. Like, we're going to Brazil to play. That's what it is. We're excited about that.”
Takeaways
After all is said and done, this NFL-Brazil fiasco should teach a valuable lesson to everybody about keeping an open mind about countries and people outside our own.
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