Panthers owner David Tepper correctly consigns the Jerry Richardson statue to history
In his first public comments since the removal of the Jerry Richardson statue in June, Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper made it clear Wednesday that the statue would never be coming back to Bank of America Stadium under his watch.
While Tepper seemed frustrated about some aspects of owning the Panthers right now — not being able to have fans in the stands for the first game of this season bugs him — there’s no doubt he is ready to move on permanently from the 4,500-pound statue that was given to Richardson in 2016 for his 80th birthday.
When I asked Tepper about the initial reasons for hurriedly removing the statue nearly three months ago, he said: “It was a safety reason at the time. If you remember the environment, every statue in the country was coming under attack. So, it just made sense from all standpoints to move that statue. And we made a fast decision. It was the right decision. And that’s why it was done.”
Later, Tepper was asked if he could see a scenario when the statue returned “once things were to calm down.”
Responded Tepper: “As far as a statue is concerned, I don’t think that things will ever be quieted down, OK? ... Nor should they.”
The statue, a source with direct knowledge of its whereabouts said, hasn’t been destroyed. It remains in a storage facility outside of the stadium footprint.
Tepper is doing the right thing by removing any doubt regarding the statue’s return. The statue, which included a 13-foot Richardson in a business suit and two snarling Panthers, quickly became an eyesore once Sports Illustrated published a story in December 2017 alleging that Richardson had committed numerous instances of workplace misconduct.
Richardson announced his decision to sell the team a few hours after the bombshell magazine story, which was rife with details about workplace violations of both a sexual and racial nature. The NFL later substantiated many of those allegations against Richardson in its own investigation and fined him $2.75 million, which was almost triple the largest fine it had ever levied.
Thankfully, Richardson also has no plans to drag this statue removal out through the legal system.
The Observer reported June 11th that the statue would never return to its perch, although Tepper wasn’t available to be interviewed about it then. One source with direct knowledge of the situation told me then, however, that the statue was not important to Richardson and that he had turned the page on that chapter of his life.
I called Richardson’s spokesman, Jim Gray, Wednesday following Tepper’s news conference. He said Richardson would have no comment about the statue or anything else regarding the team he owned from 1995-2018 and added that Richardson, now 84, was enjoying his status as a private citizen.
The statue was never actually targeted by protesters before its removal. But there had been online speculation that it would be during the weeks of protests against systemic racism that gripped Charlotte and much of America after the death of George Floyd. The team was concerned then that if any part of the statue toppled, someone beneath it could be badly hurt.
When Tepper bought the team in 2018, he didn’t remove the statue immediately, saying he was “contractually obligated” to keep it where it was. The Observer headline at the time said the Richardson sculpture had turned out to be a “statue of limitations.”
However, that contract also specified that the statue could be removed if it became a public safety hazard, a source with direct knowledge of the contract said.
The statue’s removal has had an unintended positive consequence — it will open up the stadium’s north gate for better social distancing when fans are allowed back into the stadium. Tepper was hopeful that the stadium would be able to host fans in a limited capacity Oct. 4th for Carolina’s second home game, vs. Arizona. The team already announced it would be unable to host fans for its Sept. 13th opener vs. Las Vegas.
“We can do limited fans very safely in the stadium,” Tepper said, “based on pure science.”
That stadium, though, won’t include the Richardson statue — not this season, and not any other.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Panthers owner David Tepper correctly consigns the Jerry Richardson statue to history."
