PETA takes Joe Namath to task on Twitter for fur coat and asks him to bury it

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Former New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath messed up the coin flip at the Super Bowl, but it was what he was wearing at the time that still has people upset.

Namath arrived at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey wearing a “mink” fur coat that immediately got the people at PETA to take to Twitter.

PETA ended up requesting that the 70-year-old Hall of Famer donate the coat so that it could receive a proper burial.

According to the organization:

“The real embarrassment on Sunday was Joe Namath’s caveperson coat. No matter what he spent on that eyesore, the animals who were trapped, bludgeoned, electrocuted, or skinned alive for their fur paid a lot more -- the ultimate price, in fact -- and viewers across the country agree that it was too high a price, as demonstrated by the outpouring of anti-fur messages that hit Twitter the second that Namath’s coat hit the screen.

PETA is asking Joe, who swore off fur when his wolf-skin bedspread horrified his fans decades ago, to donate the coat so that we can give it a proper burial. From the tweets, we also bet that the next time Namath is looking for a game-day look, he’ll reach for something that will make people feel warm and fuzzy about him and not remember the warm and fuzzy animal who died for that awful look.”

As it turns out, Namath’s coat might not have been mink at all. According to Marc Kaufman of Marc Kaufman furs in New York, the fur was “coyote with Norwegian fox trim.”

“Coyote is a bulky fur so that’s how it’s going to look, and it’s going to keep you warm.” Kaufman told Tulsa World. “He just wanted to have something new that looked bright and sharp. I think the white made the statement.”

Kaufman likely knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Namath. There’s a picture of “Broadway” Joe posing in a fur coat on the front page of Kaufman’s website.

[PETA] [Tulsa World]