It appears that Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has offended blind people with his Halloween costume.
On Halloween, Jones went out with his family dressed as a blind NFL referee, which many thought was hilarious.
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
Jones went on to explain his costume.
“Do you know that I was dressed up as a blind official? I had a lot of fun,” Jerry Jones said, reports Yahoo! Sports’ Jori Epstein. “I’m being very careful here because I’m getting real close to a fine. It shows how much I love them to dress up as them… how much I respect their decision-making.”
According to TMZ, the National Federation of the Blind released a statement calling Jones’ costume “harmful” that perpetuates stereotypes that blond people are incompetent.
Via TMZ
Halloween costumes like Jerry Jones’ “blind referee” play into stereotypes that the visually impaired are incompetent … so says the National Federation of the Blind, which tells TMZ Sports these kinds of outfits are “harmful.”
Jerry dressed up in a ref uniform and sported sunglasses and a walking stick over the holiday weekend … in an attempt to playfully go after NFL officials for missing penalty calls.
While Jones certainly isn’t the first person to sport the costume, the NFB tells us it’s an “unfortunate” choice … especially because it leans into the underlying stereotype that the blind are “incompetent.”
“When anyone perpetuates that stereotype, it’s harmful,” Chris Danielsen, the NFB’s director of PR tells us … pointing out nearly 70% of blind people are unemployed.