Shame on me, for me to have this platform and me to have this opportunity to stand up for something that I thought was unjust, and I passed on it. I can't do that.

My 4-year-old is the most kind-hearted person I've ever met in my life. Granted, he's 4, but he doesn't know people wouldn't like him. He doesn't understand that people would hurt him. When I get in these situations, that's what breaks my heart.

I understood that there would be some backlash, and that scared me, honestly. But deep down, I felt like it was the right thing to do. And if I was to run away from what I felt in my soul was the right thing to do, that would make me a coward. I can’t live with that. God wouldn’t be able to put me where I am today, and as far as I’ve come in life, if I was a coward.

I just take the Cleveland Browns - we are a very close football team. We care about each other, and we understand each other, and we have conversations on everything under the sun.

Whatever backlash I was going to get, whatever consequence there was for stating my opinion, I was OK with. Because I look at my son's eyes, I look at the eyes of my daughter, and I would be a bad dad if my No. 1 goal wasn't always to put them in the best situation as possible.

I was willing to put it at risk in order for someone to gain, in order for the situation to get better.

Some people who make it to where we are, life changes for them, they're treated differently, they're recognized. They're 6-foot-6, 280 pounds and people automatically know what they do for a living.