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Texans owner McNair recants apology for 'inmates' remark

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair believes he shouldn't have had to apologize for his "we can't have the inmates running the prison" comment at a league meeting with fellow owners and NFL executives.

"The main thing I regret is apologizing," McNair told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday. "I really didn't have anything to apologize for."

A week after he first made the comment in October of 2017, McNair issued an apology for his remarks.

"I regret that I used that expression. I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players. I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally," McNair said in a statement. "I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it."

Now speaking nearly six months later, he once again reiterated that he used the word "inmates" to describe league executives, not players.

"We were talking about a number of things, but we were also washing some of our dirty linen, which you do internally. You don't do that publicly. That's what I was addressing: The relationship of owners and the league office," McNair said. "In business, it's a common expression. But the general public doesn't understand it, perhaps."

McNair also denied reports that the Texans won't sign players who kneeled for the national anthem. He does believe, however, that the NFL needs to stay out of politics.

"As employers, we set conditions for all of our employees," he said. "We don't allow political meetings or statements or that sort of thing during working hours. You wouldn't let somebody working at McDonald's, when somebody pulls through, give them a hamburger and say, 'I don't know why you're eating that beef, why aren't you a vegetarian?' You don't allow that. Well, that's freedom of expression."

In the wake of McNair's initial comments last season, players on the Texans contemplated a boycott. All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins skipped the team's practice as a result.

McNair met with the team privately to offer an in-person apology and discuss what he meant.

--Field Level Media