‘Misconstrued’: Skip Bayless responds to backlash over comments about Dak Prescott’s battle with depression

Fox Sports commentator Skip Bayless responded Friday to the backlash he’s received since his on-air comments about Dak Prescott’s battle with depression.

“I have great compassion for anyone suffering clinical depression, which is very real. If you are suffering from any form of depression, please seek help.” Bayless said on his show “Undisputed.”

Bayless, however, did not offer an apology to Prescott and said his comments about the Dallas Cowboys quarterback have been “misconstrued by many.”

“The only dark depression I addressed on yesterday’s show was from an interview he taped with Graham Bensinger. Dak said that depression happened soon after the pandemic hit, early in the quarantine,” Bayless said. “I said yesterday that if Dak needed help for pandemic depression, he should have sought counseling then.”

Bayless was heavily criticized for saying Thursday that he did not have sympathy for Prescott going public.

He said Prescott should have kept his struggles private or shared them with only a limited group of people because of his role as an NFL starting quarterback.

Co-host Shannon Sharpe quickly rebuked Bayless for his remarks.

Fox Sports also condemned Bayless' comments saying in a statement that Prescott showed courage in revealing his struggles with depression and mental health before admonishing Bayless.

“We do not agree with Skip Bayless' opinion on Undisputed this (Thursday) morning. We have addressed the significance of this matter with Skip and how his insensitive comments were received by people internally at Fox Sports and our audience,” the statement said.

Prescott said during the interview with Bensinger that the coronavirus pandemic and the suicide of one of his brothers this spring carried a heavy emotional burden.

He told reporters on Thursday that he sought help from family and the Cowboys.