Michigan football's Donovan Edwards apologizes, explains anti-semitic social media post

Michigan football running back Donovan Edwards publicly apologized on Friday for his October 2022 retweet of a Kanye West video which espoused antisemitic rhetoric.

Edwards, who was named to the preseason Doak Walker Award watchlist on Wednesday, spoke with the media shortly after U-M's eighth practice of fall camp. Among the topics thrown Edwards' way were his relationship with teammate Blake Corum, expectations for the season and his own lofty comparisons to NFL running backs. Standard stuff.

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But then, as he was excused from the lectern, the junior tailback offered a final thought of his own.

"I got one more thing to mention, about the tweet, I feel like that was a great thing for me because it is a learning and building experience for me," Edwards began. "The way I look at that is, I don't have any type of hatred or disgrace anybody. I have love for everybody, all people. I don't care who you are; black, white, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic. I don't care, because why? Everybody is God's children in the eyes of God. There's nothing in the Bible that says that only one specific race can make into the heaven gates. Everybody can.

"I apologize to anybody who I may have hurt. I understand my actions and you know, I'm going to grow from from it, it's taught me a lot."

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On Oct. 27, Edwards retweeted a post by the "Lord of the Film" Twitter account (now known as 'X') which read: "Jewish people will literally tell you that they want you to kill your own and humiliate your women simply because they have children to feed."

It appeared on top of a video where West said, "I’m gonna say some antisemitic sh*t.”

Initially, Edwards called the retweet 'a glitch' before he later wiped the post from his account. In the hours that followed, he clarified his story and called it a "learning experience" and said he is "unequivocally against racism."

On Friday, roughly 10 months after his retweet, Edwards elaborated on his intent behind the post.

"The thing that I learned from that is I can't allow people to, I can't allow a caption to define who I am," he said. "Because if I can explain for myself that in that context − nobody listened to what Kanye West said. What Kanye West said is the people who are the higher ups, we all know who higher ups are, it's like Coach Harbaugh to us, he's the higher up, what he says goes. In that context, for me, I'm a black male, and I look at that very specifically. And it's like, black people are getting diminished as − we're looking at like celebrities and like they're telling us this and that, and that and we're listening to some of the rap lyrics, like we're depriving ourselves and we all know this. Black people are depriving ourselves of, you know, like race, calling girls out the names, talking about robbing, stealing, killing, that's not good. You know, so that's why, you know, I retweeted what I retweeted?

"It's not about I hate Jewish people. I don't hate Jewish people. Black people are Jewish, too. You know, just like how there's many other races that are other (religions). You know, I don't hate Buddhist people. I don't hate Muslim people. I love all races because all religions are right. You know, all religions have the same thing, and that is to love God and to treat your neighbor accordingly and to love each other in the way that you love yourself. So, I've learned a lot from that and that's why I don't deprive myself of who I am because I know who I am. If you ask people in this building, who really know me, they will say I'm a great person. And I believe that myself too."

While the public backlash was swift, Edwards did not face internal punishment. Two days later, Edwards got the first start of his career, and when coach Jim Harbaugh was asked if there was ever any discussion about repercussions, he said the team "addressed it" and that he and the players knew Edwards' character.

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Still, U-M regent Jordan Acker and president Santa Ono worked together with Harbaugh and other members of the football staff to arrange an offseason visit to the Zekelmen's Holocaust Center in Bloomfield Hills, which the entire team attended in April.

"What did I gain from it? Truth be told is that, you know, I've hurt people and I can live with that because now I can build people up," Edwards said of the experience. "I may have made people's trust not be there from me, but I don't care, you know? Because people don't know who I really am. They don't know the context of what I saw and what I retweeted, the real video, not what a person said about it.

"You know, I'm not gonna lie, like I was kind of − I'm not gonna say what I gotta say, because it's all right. But I learned a lot, to be honest with you. And I know that. I know that. If I continue to be who I am, you know, I could gain that. I could gain people's trust back."

Despite the self-induced off-field distractions, Edwards went on to have a standout season.

He finished with 140 carries for 991 yards (7.1 yards per carry) and seven touchdowns, and had another 200 receiving yards and two more scores through the air. Expectations, both individually and as a team, are even higher this season, as Michigan starts the year No. 2 in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll and is on the short list of national championship contenders.

Edwards told PFF earlier this week he expects to be considered alongside greats like 'Walter Payton and Barry Sanders' when his NFL career is over. It was a bold proclamation, but that's Edwards.

He apologized for last year's remarks, particularly for those he hurt. He won't apologize for being himself.

"I'm never going to change who I am for anybody," he said. "Honestly, my goal is to always do right by people. My goal is to go above and beyond for people and to, you know, help like homeless people. One of my main goals in life is to get into real estate so I can help other people who have minimum incomes, and I want to buy like a townhouse and like make the rent like $250 a nice apartment. You know, that's when I get my money up though. I have to take care of myself too."

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

For openers

Matchup: Michigan (13-1 in 2022) vs. East Carolina (8-5 in 2022), season opener.

Kickoff: Noon Sept. 2; Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: Peacock (online only); WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: TBA.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football RB Donovan Edwards apologizes for anti-semitic post