Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs got into some hot water on Thursday night when he celebrated his first touchdown on the night mid-way through the second quarter with his hands behind his back, appearing to mimic being in handcuffs.
Online users linked this to him being arrested earlier this season and ultimately serving a six-game spell on the Commissioner’s Exempt List after being charged with two misdemeanors; battery and criminal damage to property, to which Jacobs plead no contest in September.
However, speaking after the game, Jacobs cleared up what he meant by the celebration. Per his comments after the game, the former All-Pro RB attributed the move as an ode to a gospel song.
Josh Jacobs’ ‘Handcuff’ Celebration About a Gospel Song, per Jacobs
“Yeah, they didn’t even get the whole celebration…But anyways, me and Savion [Williams] came up with a celebration. They would have seen the whole celebration.” Jacobs said after the game.
“Basically, last week, we said the first celebration, when I scored, I was going to thank God. That’s what I did last week. The second was going to be Break Every Chain. It’s a gospel song. That was going to be the next celebration. It’s just a correlation.”
The “second” score Jacobs refers to in the video is his cumulative second score after returning to the team, not his second in the game.
Jacobs Blames Media For Blowing Celebration Out of Proportion
Jacobs then went off at the media for what he believes was making the story something that it was not.
“Like I said, the media going to run with it. They’re going to make it something that it wasn’t. But it is what it is.”
The explanation seems fairly convincing, but the former Raiders tailback will certainly look to think twice about his future celebrations.
Josh Jacobs Clarifies Controversial Celebration After Online Criticism