Aaron Donald is accustomed to leading a rush, not bracing for one.
On Thursday, the Rams star defensive lineman calmly answered an onslaught of nearly a dozen questions in the aftermath of his announcement Tuesday that he was parting ways with Donda Sports, a marketing and content agency owned by Kanye West.
West has made antisemitic comments online and in television interviews in recent weeks.
“Obviously, things were said that me and my family don’t agree with,” Donald said before practice, “so we just decided to part ways.”
Thursday’s news conference was the first time Donald met with reporters since he and his wife Erica posted a statement on Donald’s Twitter feed announcing their decision to leave Donda Sports.
“The recent comments and displays of hate and antisemitism are the exact opposite of how we choose to live our lives and raise our children,” part of the statement said. “We find them to be irresponsible and go against everything we believe in as a family.”
Several companies have divested themselves from partnerships with West and Donda Sports.
Donald said that he and his wife do not “read everything” on social media but decided to act after their “inner circle” brought “those things that we don’t agree with” to their attention.
“We talked about it, and felt the best thing to do was part ways and leave it like that,” he said.
