Deion Sanders says offer of $50,000 to critics was "a joke"

Colorado coach Deion Sanders has addressed the comments made recently by Christopher "Uncle" Neely regarding a supposed willingness to pay critics $50,000 to not mention his name.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Sanders said it was " a joke ."

"I think you misinterpreted that," Sanders said. "I said . . . I would love to give you money and not mention my name, and I want to see how far that goes. That was a joke, That's what we were saying. Like some people live on your name."

Before Sanders answered, someone off camera (presumably Neely) can be heard explaining the question. The person refers to a show from the spring in which that statement was made.

Sanders did indeed previously make a comment along those lines. And it does indeed sound like a hypothetical, not an actual offer.

Separately, Deion posted the following on Twitter this afternoon: " This is a lie but God bless u all. Y'all know me and have known me for years. When has it appeared that I've EVER cared what a man or woman has said about me? My son does my Videos and Neely is a friend."

While it does appear that Sanders was not making a real offer when he talked about it previously, that's not how Neely's recent comments came off: "For the most part, the people that attack him wouldn't be making the money they were making if he wasn't here to attack. Which is why he told some of them , 'Hey man, let's just do this. I give you $50,000 to not mention my name for a year.' And ain't nobody took the deal yet. . . . And you love talking about this man so much, and you make so much talking of this man that you turned the deal down."

To answer the question Deion posed on Twitter ("When has it appeared that I've EVER cared what a man or woman has said about me?"), there is at least one tangible example of sensitivity to criticism. In 2024, for example, he refused to answer a question at a press conference from a reporter at the local CBS affiliate because of a problem he had with CBS generally.

" I'm not doing anything with CBS ," Sanders said at the time. "Next question. . . . It ain't got nothing to do with you. It's above that. It ain't got nothing to do with you. I've got love for you. I appreciate and respect you. It ain't got nothing to do with you. They know what they did."

"I'm here in Denver not national," the reporter responded.

"You are who you are," Deion replied. "CBS is CBS, all right? . . . I'm looking you in the eye as a man. I respect you. I've got love for you. But what they did was foul."

Regardless, Neely stated the offer — and the failure of any reporters to accept it — as if it were a real offer. Sanders has now given his side of the story that Neely created with the content and tone of his recent remarks.