Deion Sanders on Tuesday downplayed comments from a person close to him who suggested the Colorado coach was willing to pay $50,000 to silence his critics.
“That was a joke,” Sanders told reporters.
Christopher Neely, a YouTube content creator known as “Uncle Neely” who’s been with Sanders since he coached Jackson State, found himself in the spotlight for a comment he recently made on a roundtable internet program.
“For the most part, the people that attack him wouldn’t be making the money they were making if he wasn’t here to attack,” Neely said in the video. “Which is why he told some of them, ‘Hey man, let’s just do this. I give you $50,000 to not mention my name for a year.’ And ain’t nobody took the deal yet.”
Sanders was confused Tuesday when he was asked about offering money to silence the criticism surrouding his program. He was given a quick background by Neely, who was in the room for the coach’s weekly news conference.
Deion Sanders says he was joking around, but had to clarify as much. (Photo by Scott Wachter/Getty Images)
“Oh no, no, no! I think you misinterpreted that,” said Sanders, whose Buffaloes have dropped five in a row heading into their game Saturday against Kansas State. “I said, like some of y’all in here sitting right now, ‘I would love to give you money and not mention my name, and I want to see how far that goes.’ … That’s what we were saying. Some people live on your name.”
He added that he’s experienced criticism most of his life — as a player and as a coach.
“I would never offer a man money. I don’t give a darn what you say about me,” Sanders said. “That was really a joke about someone prospering off of your name and your brand. It’s not in my heart to not like anybody in this room. I may not like some things you may do or say, but I don’t know you enough to form that opinion.
“This is normalcy because I’m just different. I’m unapologetic about things I say and how I live my life.”
Sanders is in his fourth year at Colorado. He has brought the spotlight back to the downtrodden program and his quarterback son, Shedeur, and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter helped engineer a 9-4 season that ended with a trip to a bowl game. But Sanders is 18-26 overall and last year’s 3-9 finish set up expectations for improvement this season that haven’t been met amid a 2-5 start.
Sanders pointed out that during his NFL Hall of Fame playing career he wasn’t a talker. Show-boater, sure, but not much into taunting.
“I never belittled, downgraded, hated. Never said anything to my opponent,” Sanders said. “I never talked on the field. I danced, I high-stepped. I never spiked the ball in somebody’s face. I I wasn’t raised like that. I’ve always been very respectful. I would never go with an insult, or I would never say nothing about any of you guys or your kids. I don’t I don’t get down like that.”
Reporting by The Associated Press.