The bizarre story of locker room racism and bullying continues to get more bizarre. Richie Incognito took to Fox Sports to defend using racist and profane language with Jonathan Martin, saying that doing so was a part of the Miami Dolphins "brotherhood."
He also emphasized that he "is not a racist," and for anyone to judge him by his use of the n-word is wrong.
In an interview with Fox's Jay Glazer, which aired on Sunday, Incognito claimed that Martin made threats against his family as well, and that the threats were all a part of a vulgar locker room culture and not bullying.
"This isn't an issue about bullying," Incognito told Fox. "This is an issue of my and Jon's relationship. You can ask anyone in the Miami Dolphins locker room, who had Jon Martin's back the absolute most? And they'll undoubtedly tell you me," he said. "All this stuff coming out, it speaks to the culture of our locker room, it speaks to the culture of our closeness, it speaks to the culture of our brotherhood."
He explained that the text messages, while inappropriate, were private text messages that he believed he was sharing with a friend. Incognito claimed that it wasn't just he who sent Martin vulgar, profanity-laced messages but that Martin sent him some as well.
"A week before this went down, Jonathan Martin texted me on my phone: 'I will murder your whole … family,'" Incognito said, quoting Martin as using a profanity. "Now, did I think Jonathan Martin was going to murder my family? Not one bit. He texted me that. I didn't think he was going to kill my family. I knew it was coming from a brother. I knew it was coming from a friend. I knew it was coming from a teammate. That just puts in context how we communicate with one another."