Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was all smiles at a Halloween party over the weekend. But the NFL might not find his recent antics so funny.
Jones arrived dressed as a blind NFL referee, complete with dark sunglasses, a striped shirt, and a walking stick. His niece snapped a photo for her social, and it went viral shortly after that.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones with the epic troll Halloween costume. A blind ref.
Hope @nfl has a sense of humor pic.twitter.com/WkZyjmDj1J— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) October 30, 2022
The joke was clearly on the refs, who are routinely criticized by owners, players, and fans alike for their questionable calls on the field.
The problem is that the NFL has rules when it comes to tossing shade at the men in black and white.
A 2019 league memo states:
“Comments regarding the quality of officiating, individual calls or missed calls, the league’s officiating department, an officiating crew or an individual game official accusing game officials of acting with bias or in any way questioning the integrity of NFL game officials; or posting negative or derogatory/demeaning content pertaining to officiating on social media.”
Jerry Jones responds to the controversy
When asked by Sports Illustrated if he was poking fun at the refs, Jones cried foul.
“I’m being very careful here because I’m getting real close to a fine,” he said. ‘It shows how much I love them to dress up as them … how much I respect their decision-making. I had the cane and everything. And I used it on some people, too.”
Coming to his father’s defense, Stephen Jones, who is CEO and Executive VP of the Cowboys, told a sports radio show, “I do think they [the refs] understand you can have some humor with this stuff, but I can’t imagine they don’t think there’s nothing but respect that comes out of the Cowboys organization in terms of how difficult their job is and what a good job they do, as well.”
At press time, the NFL had not publicly commented on Costumegate.