A lot of people have a lot to say about the encouraging words Lynn Jones-Turpin publicly shared with Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen following the team’s playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The daughter of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. is now chiming in.
“We need more of what Lynn Jones from Jacksonville Free Press did in that Jaguars post game press conference yesterday,” Bernice A. King stated in a Facebook post Monday. “Humanity + compassion don’t = unprofessional. If so, the world could certainly use more ‘unprofessionalism’ right now. Thank you, Ms. Jones.”
Breaking from the traditional questions about X’s and O’s that reporters typically ask coaches, Jones-Turpin, associate editor of the Jacksonville Free Press, a Black weekly newspaper established in 1986, had different words for Coen.
“I’m going to tell you, congratulations on your success, young man. You hold your head up. You guys have had a most magnificent season. You did a great job out there today. You just hold your head up, OK? Ladies and gentlemen, DUVAL. You keep it going. We got another season.” she said.
When ESPN’s Adam Schefter described Jones-Turpin’s comments as “awesome,” in a social media post, AP football writer Mark Long responded, “Nothing ‘awesome’ about fans/fake media doing stuff like that ... It should be embarrassing for the people who credentialed her and her organization, and it’s a waste of time for those of us actually working.”
Former ESPN analyst Jemele Hill posted on X , “This can’t be a reporter. Cause if so, I would not have used the term awesome.”
Outside of some traditional journalists who bristled at Jones-Turpin’s post game pep talk to Coen, it’s clear that she was speaking what many in Jacksonville were thinking.
The following are comments posted by people on Instagram following the news conference:
- “We love her and we love this.”
- “Lynn Jones - the Auntie we all need in our corner!”
- “I watched this video way too many times... I plan to watch it 1,345,436,896 more times... Love it!”
- “i can’t lie her words felt like the hug i needed.”
- “You can tell he needed to hear those words. God bless her for speaking life into him!”
- “never “heard” a hug before, but Lynn Jones just gave Liam and all of Jax a huge hug with those words!"
- “I don’t even know her but I love her”
- “If you ever wondered what having a black auntie is like? There it go.”
- “She’s not wrong!!! Good job so proud of you guys”
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