The New Jersey political power broker who was removed from Sunday’s Cowboys–Eagles game after displaying a dual American/Israeli flag outside his suite claimed Tuesday that the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles were being hypocritical given their support for Ukraine.
George Norcross, appearing on Newsmax’s Wake Up America, maintained that he just wanted the flag to represent support for Israel similar to how the NFL and the Eagles have “supported other civic and social causes, including this… tragedy going on in Ukraine, where the Eagles and the NFL asked their patrons to pray for the citizens of Ukraine.”
The NFL permitted the New York Jets to have Ukrainian flag decals on their helmets during a game last year that also saw each end zone painted with the flag, for instance. The league also has approved helmet messages reading “Stop Hate” and “Black Lives Matter.”
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The former Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner and brother of Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) argued that the flag was considered “obscene” by the football team and the league.
“Apparently now the leadership of the Eagles and the NFL have decided that that flag—an American flag, Israeli flag—is considered obscene under their terms,” he said. “Well, I’m sorry to say that Americans are not going to support the fact that the United States flag and an Israeli flag are deemed obscene.”
According to the Eagles team website, signs and banners "that are obscene or indecent, not event-related, potentially offensive to other patrons, capable of blocking the views of other fans or otherwise deemed dangerous or inappropriate” are prohibited.
A team spokesperson claimed that the issue was that the flag was not related to the game.
"Our stadium policies expressly prohibit signage containing any kind of non-game messaging to be hung from a stadium suite. Stadium staff repeatedly asked Mr. Norcross to remove the sign he hung outside of the suite," Eagles spokesperson Bob Lange said, Philly Voice reported.
Lange added that rather than comply, Norcross “became physically and verbally abusive” and “was ejected from the stadium only after his abuse toward numerous stadium staff members continued.”
Norcross labeled the security guard who removed him as “one of their rent-a-cop thugs.”
