Randy Moss says he's received hate mail over Hall of Fame tie

Former NFL wide receiver Randy Moss used his tie to make a powerful statement at the 2018 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony. Now he says he's been receiving hate mail because of it.

In an interview with The Undefeated's Jason Reid, Moss estimated he's received between 150 and 200 hate messages since wearing the tie, which bore the names of 12 black men and women, most of whom were killed by police or died while in police custody.

"The black community praised me and thanked me for shedding light on African-Americans dying. Then on the flip side, you've got sites where people are slamming me, saying 'Hey, n—–, stay in your place,'" Moss said. "They're saying, 'You're a dumb black jock. You just need to stick to playing football, n—–.'

"All of this hate mail I'm getting for wearing a tie and talking about the truth. But I can handle it because I've been dealing with racism my whole life. I've deleted a lot of hate mail. Probably 150 to 200 messages the last few days. But that's fine because I can speak out. A lot of guys don't feel comfortable doing that."

Moss said his tie wasn't meant as a sign of disrespect toward police officers.

"What I did, I didn't mean it disrespectfully toward police. I didn't call out any police officer or police department. I know police have tough jobs," he said.

"But I can't ignore the other part of it. There are things that shouldn't be happening. And then you have people in this country hurting from missing their loved ones. We just have to come together to admit what's going on and try to fix it. I really want to try to help. I really want to try to be part of the solution. With all that said, I'm trying to find a way to auction off my tie to give the proceeds to the police and first responders. And I want to be able to give some to groups working with children."