National Football League

UPDATE: Jaguars apologize for mascot's Ebola joke

Published Oct. 6, 2014 8:07 a.m. ET

foxsports

UPDATE: The team issued a statement apologizing for the joke. The full statement is added at the bottom of this story.

Jaxson DeVille, the mascot for the Jacksonville Jaguars who has been played by Curtis Dvorak since its inception in 1996, is generally amusing, as mascots go.

He does the usual mascot antics, but he also does some fun things like closest-to-the-pin contests against golf pros.

Deadly diseases, namely Ebola, are not funny.

Apparently, nobody told Jaxson that as he was seen facing Pittsburgh Steelers fans during Sunday's game, carrying a Terrible Towel in one hand and a sign that read "TOWELS CARRY EBOLA" in the other.

Here's a quick sampling of the reaction on Twitter:

Wow, that @Jaguars Mascot incident yesterday was terrible!! #Ebola #Jaguars
— Kasay Stadtlander (@RealEHTVKasay) October 6, 2014

Dan #Snyder must be so thankful that for one week, the #Redskins aren't the most #insensitive team in the #NFL. #jaguars #ebola
— Mr. DiGloria (@JD_History) October 6, 2014

Could be one of the dumbest ideas ever. http://t.co/fmDJ7N3EiO What a bunch of morons. #Jaguars #Steelers
— BTSC Steelers (@btsteelcurtain) October 6, 2014

Let's take a moment to talk about #Tasteless #Inappropriate Ebola "jokes" that aren't clever or funny. #Jaguars pic.twitter.com/zmgyZruivy
— Sunshine (@Sunshine______) October 5, 2014

Jaguars President Mark Lamping addressed the situation Monday morning in a statement.

“Improvisation and humor have both been key elements to the character of Jaxson DeVille, especially when he performs at home games. On Sunday, the person who has played Jaxson DeVille over the past 20 seasons made an extremely poor decision in that regard. The team was unaware of this inappropriate sign, which was hand-made by Jaxson during the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game, until after it had been displayed. We are handling the matter internally and taking it very seriously. We extend our sincerest apologies to anyone who was offended.”