Three days after taking part in Super Bowl festivities wearing a faith-themed jacket, Damar Hamlin has apologized for causing offense.
“After talking with my parents I understand how my coat could have offended some people. It was never my intentions to hurt or disrespect anyone,” the Buffalo Bills safety tweeted Wednesday.
The coat in question featured an unusual illustration of Jesus on the cross, alongside a variety of other religious symbols and words. It comes from Kanye West’s fashion line, according to The Associated Press.
In his Wednesday tweet thread, Hamlin said he saw the coat’s design as “abstract art.”
“It says ‘Eternal’ (and) I am Eternally thankful to my Savior,” he said.
Former NFL star Adrian Peterson was among those who criticized Hamlin’s fashion statement. “This is blasphemy!! ... I find this disrespectful!!,” the running back said earlier this week, according to The Christian Post.
Peterson later noted on Instagram that he’d had a chance to connect with Hamlin and share his concerns. He said the conversation helped him see that Hamlin didn’t mean to be disrespectful, although it didn’t convince him to embrace the jacket’s design.
“Damar, I have respect and love for you and I wish you nothing but the best, but I just can’t rock with that jacket. I feel like there are a lot people, young and old, looking up to you and with power and influence comes great responsibility,” Peterson wrote on Instagram.
Hamlin has been in the spotlight since he collapsed on the field during a Jan. 2 primetime game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He went into cardiac arrest and spent multiple days in critical condition before he was well enough to be transferred to a medical center in Buffalo and then cleared to go home.
Hamlin was at the Super Bowl to take part in a pregame ceremony honoring his recovery and the work of his caretakers, The Associated Press reported.
“The NFL honored the Bills and Bengals training and medical staffs and first responders who treated the 24-year-old from the Pittsburgh area on the field, and the staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he spent nearly a week recovering,” the article said.
In his tweets Wednesday, Hamlin assured fans that he will learn from the jacket controversy.
“I will learn from this and continue to walk in Love as I ALWAYS have,” he said.
Hamlin also pointed people to a Bible passage about refraining from judging others.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye,” reads Matthew 7:1-5.