Washington Redskins wide receiver DeSean Jackson said he still associates "with certain people" in gangs and says his hand gestures that resemble gang signs are merely a tribute to his Los Angeles roots, according to an "ESPN The Magazine" story published online Friday.



"When I was young, I hung out with and knew certain people who were involved in certain things," said in the story that will also appear in the July 7 issue. "But at the same time, they knew I played sports, so they supported me in playing sports."

And it's that loyalty that has led Jackson to keep ties to those in South Los Angeles. NJ.com reported in March that the Philadelphia Eagles were concerned about his friends had become too powerful of an influence in his life.

The Eagles released Jackson minutes after the original NJ.com story, which detailed his ties to reputed gang members and an unreported 2009 arrest. NJ.com never alleged that Jackson was in a gang, although he denied it anyway in the ESPN story:

Neither Jackson nor the writer of the story attacked the veracity of this site's reporting. In fact, Jackson and his mother seemed to back up one major element of the original NJ.com investigation: Jackson's use of alleged gang signs during NFL games and on social media.

The story delved into Jackson's rough upbringing in Southern California, including when he saw somebody murdered as a youth not far from where his late father, Bill, lived at the time.