DALLAS, June 8 (UPI) -- Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells has apologized for using a racial slur offensive to many Japanese during a training camp news conference.
Parcells was talking Monday about how he works with his assistants, quarterbacks coach Sean Payton and defense coordinator Mike Zimmer, in calling plays when he made the remark, The Dallas Morning News reported.
"Sean's going to have a few ... no disrespect to the Orientals, but what we call 'Jap plays.' OK? Surprise things," he said in an apparent reference to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II.
Parcells paused and then said, "no disrespect to anyone."
Later in the day, the Cowboys coach and the team released separate apologies for the remark.
Phillip Shinoda, president of the Asian American Forum, told The News he expected more from his home team.
"When someone uses 'Jap,' it makes me fearful because it was used against me and my family to demonize us during World War II," he said. "By dehumanizing us, it made it OK to put my relatives in relocation camps. It made it OK for kids to pick on me when I was little. I cringe when I hear it used today."
