Greg Hardy briefly changes Twitter profile to declare his innocence
Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy made a statement that he was innocent until proven guilty and is a victim of discrimination by changing his Twitter profile for a brief time Wednesday morning.
"Innocent until proven guilty-lack of knowledge & information is just ignorance-the unjust/prejudicial treatment of diff categories of people is discrimination," he wrote in the account's bio.
While his Twitter handle remained @OverlordKraken, he changed his name to "Perfection."
Hardy later took that profile down, changed the account name to "Machiavelli Kraken" and changed his profile to this: "Come with me Hail Mary Run quick see What do we have here now wana be my ride or die La la la la la la (SuperBlockParty)."
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said the team "addressed" the Twitter change with Hardy on Wednesday morning. Askeddirectly whether that's why Hardy changed his profile again, Garrett answered with the same response.
"I think the biggest thing we try to do with any player is just address things when they come up, and we address them in-house and we deal with things inside these walls and then we move forward," Garrett said when he was asked whether Hardy was tuning out the Cowboys' message or not buying into it.
The changes came days after Hardy tweeted "regret" on Saturday night, after photos of his bruised former girlfriend from his domestic violence case were released by Deadspin.com.
"I think a big part of coaching is shaping a mentality and mindset and shaping behavior. We do that every day with 53 guys on our roster, 10 guys on our practice staff and all of our coaches and staff," Garrett said whenasked about having to deal with multiple issues related to Hardy this season.
The release of the pictures opened up a new debate on whether Hardy should be allowed to play in the NFL. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones defended his decision to sign Hardy, calling him a "leader" on the team.
Former Cowboys great Roger Staubach, on the other hand, has said he's cheering for the team but not for Hardyand that he has mixed emotions about Hardy's presence on the team.
The photographs were revealed a year and half after Hardy was arrested and charged with attacking and threatening Nicole Holder. Hardy, then with the Carolina Panthers, was accused of throwing Holder against a bathroom wall, throwing her on a futon covered with assault rifles, choking her and threatening her life during an altercation at his apartment.
Hardy was convicted on charges of domestic violence against Holder in 2014 in a bench trial. Under North Carolina law, a person convicted of a crime can appeal and ask for a jury trial. Hardy appealed, seeking that jury trial, but the case was thrown out in February 2015, when Holder, the accuser, stopped cooperating with authorities.
In February, Hardy asked that the charges be expunged from his record, when the case was thrown out. In April he filed paperwork with the same request, and a judge in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, signed the order in early November. That means there is no record of the incident on Hardy's record.
Hardy was placed on the NFL commissioner's exempt list on Sept. 17, 2014.
He signed a one-year, $11.3 million deal with the Cowboys on March 18. Hardy was suspended by the NFL on April 22 for the first 10 games of this season, but that suspension was reduced to four games by arbitrator Harold Henderson on July 10.
Hardy returned to action on Oct. 11.
ESPN's Todd Archer contributed to this report.
