• Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apologises for using the “m word” to describe dwarfism.
• Jones was referring to former scouting director Larry Lacewell, who died in May.
• The term is considered a derogatory slur by the dwarfism advocacy group Little People of America.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apologised on Tuesday for using a derogatory term to describe small people while paying tribute to a team executive who died recently.

Jones used the term when recalling former Cowboys scouting director Larry Lacewell, a key figure in Dallas’ three Super Bowl victories in the 1990s.

Lacewell passed away in May at the age of 85.

“Earlier today, I made a remark that I understand may have been interpreted as offensive.” “I sincerely apologise,” Jones said in a statement released Tuesday evening.

Lacewell was always a popular figure who drew an audience whenever he spoke, Jones said to reporters at the Cowboys training camp in Oxnard, California.

“I’m going to get a (M-word) to stand up there with me and dress him up like Lace and pretend Lace is still out here helping us at practise,” a beaming Jones explained. “But it’s to Lacereally, and I’m serious about it.”

The “m word,” according to the advocacy group Little People of America, should never be used because it is “considered a derogatory slur.”

“The dwarfism community has expressed a preference to be referred to as dwarfs, little people, people of short stature or with dwarfism, or simply, and most preferably, by their given name,” according to the organisation.

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