ESPN’s Outside The Lines devoted Wednesday’s show to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s appearance at the Cowboys’ win over the Lions. The half-hour discussion of the political controversy was not without controversy of its own. During the broadcast, show guest Kinky Friedman called Christie and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ relationship “most latent homosexual relationship since Sherlock Holmes and Watson,” which host Bob Ley quickly apologized for.

Earlier in the day, Ley teased the subject of the show with this tweet, indicating that Jones said sitting next to Christie was just like sitting next to African revolutionary Nelson Mandela.

Jones became a punchline on Twitter following Ley’s tweet, as many fans were incredulous that the owner could say such a thing.

Jones’ quote was taken entirely out of context. Jones, in an interview with ESPN, said Wednesday that he likes to invite celebrities to football games because it adds a sense of importance to the event, and gives his players a chance to meet someone influential. Here are his exact words:

“Whenever I can get around important or exciting people, I want to do it. I’ve got a nice little list of sitting with some pretty big winners at some of these key games. I know Nelson Mandela, I got to sit with him, and took him to the dressing room, and you can imagine how the players went crazy and coaches, just to meet Nelson Mandela. We’ve had some of the top people, the top politicians, President Bush. I’ve had people from many areas that come in and just add to, if you will, just the intensity of the moment. That makes it seem special. I want it to seem special for the ones who aren’t in the stadium as well.”

(Thanks to The Big Lead for sharing this video.)