Atlanta Falcons assistant coach Marquand Manuel apologized for an inappropriate question he asked to Ohio State defensive back Eli Apple at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. During a TV interview in Philadelphia on Friday, Apple said he was asked at the combine by a Falcons coach if he liked men. Apple was answering a question about the most bizarre questions he faced while at the combine and well, yeah, that would qualify as a bizarre line of questioning since it is an illegal question to ask on any job interview.
“I take full responsibility for the inappropriate question I asked at the Combine,” Manuel said in a statement released Monday by the team. “It was wrong and I apologize to Eli Apple, Mr. Blank, the entire Falcons organization, my family, and our Falcon fans for my insensitivity. I understand it was inappropriate and the offense people have taken to it. I have had an individual counseling session on social responsibility today, and was part of a staff session as well, and found it very valuable in learning from this situation. Moving forward, I will become a better man by going through all of this.”
Falcons head coach Dan Quinn also released a statement to follow up his previous remarks on the situation.
“I have spoken to every coach on our staff individually and collectively today in regards to what happened at the Combine,” Quinn said. “The inappropriate conversation occurred between one of out position coaches and a player; it was not during our formal 15-minute interviews. Following my discussions with the coaches, we have taken additional steps to ensure our entire staff is well educated on the appropriate questions and comments that should be made during these processes. We had a training seminar with a league-approved counselor here at our facility today with our entire coaching staff regarding social responsibility. Our organization holds itself to a very high standard and we will learn form this.”
Apple said on Breakfast on Broad on The Comcast Network in Philadelphia on Friday a Falcons coach asked “So do you like men?” Apple also said that coach said “if you’re going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that’s how it is around here, you’re going to have to get used to it.” The question came in spite of the fact that NFL teams were reminded in 2014 about anti-discrimination policies, including refraining from asking players about sexual orientation.
