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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was fined $250,000 for giving the middle finger to fans during his team's road win against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Sunday (October 5), NFL Network's Tom Pelissero reports.
"The NFL fined #Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for giving the middle finger to fans on Sunday," Pelissero wrote on his X account.
Jones, 82, was seen pointing toward fans from his luxury suite before giving the middle finger in a viral video.
"That was unfortunate. That was kind of an exchange with our fans out in front of us," Jones said during a radio interview this week via NFL.com. "There was a swarm of Cowboys fans out in front -- not Jets fans, Cowboys fans. The entire stadium was brimming with enthusiasm of Cowboys and certainly late in the game."
"(The gesture) was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we made our last touchdown, and we were all excited about it," he added. "There wasn't any antagonistic issue or anything like that. I just put up the wrong show on the hand. That was inadvertently done. I'm not kidding. If you want to call it accidental, you can call it accidental. But it got straightened around pretty quick. I had a chance to look at it. It got straightened out pretty quick, but the intention was 'thumbs up,' and basically pointing at our fans because everybody was jumping up and down excited."
Similar incidents involving NFL owners have taken place in the past. Carolina Panthers owner David Teper was fined $300,000 for throwing a drink on fans in 2023 and late former Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for waving fingers at Buffalo Bills fans in 2009. Jones' Cowboys will face Tepper's Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Sunday (October 12).