Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib, a former player for the Cleveland Browns, became the first active NFL player in history to announce that he is gay.
“What’s up people,” Nassib posted on Instagram Monday afternoon. “I’m at my house in West Chester Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I’m gay. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but finally feel comfortable getting it off my chest. I really have the best life, the best family, friends and job a guy can ask for.”
Nassib was a third-round draft pick for the Browns in 2016, with whom he played from 2016 to 2017 before being waived by the Browns in 2018. He was then claimed off waivers by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know that I’m not doing this for attention,” Nassib said in his Monday Instagram video. “I just think that representation and visibility are so important. I actually hope that one day, videos like this and the whole coming out process are not necessary, but until then, I will do my best and my part to cultivate a culture that’s accepting and compassionate and I’m going to start by donating $100,000 to the Trevor Project. They’re an incredible organization, they’re the number one suicide-prevention service for LGBTQ youth in America.”
The Trevor Project was founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award-winning short film “Trevor.” It is a national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning young people under the age of 25.
After Nassib made the announcement, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell released the following statement via an NFL spokesperson on Twitter:
From @nflcommish pic.twitter.com/xYRCYsPXZz
— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) June 21, 2021
Nassib, 28, is entering his sixth NFL season and his second with the Raiders.
News 5 partner station KTNV in Las Vegas contributed to this report. View their report here.
