April 2020 - Atlanta Falcons Wiretap
Hayden Hurst approached Dak Prescott after Sunday's Atlanta Falcons-Dallas Cowboys game to express his support in the wake of what Hurst called "disgusting" comments made by Skip Bayless about Prescott's opening up about his mental health.
Prescott recently shared in an episode of "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" that he sought help in the offseason for anxiety and depression brought on by the death of his older brother, Jace, and the coronavirus pandemic. Jace Prescott died by suicide in April. The quarterback's mother died of colon cancer in 2013.
Bayless said on his "Undisputed" show, "I don't have sympathy for [Prescott] going public with, 'I got depressed' and 'I suffered depression early in COVID to the point that I couldn't even go work out.' Look, he's the quarterback of America's team."
Hurst has been open about attempting suicide and dealing with anxiety and depression.
"To be totally honest with you, when I saw what Skip Bayless said, it just really upset me -- that Dak had the courage to come out and talk about that and how it affected his family, how it affected him -- and those [Bayless] comments, I thought, were just disgusting," Hurst said. "For a guy to come out and talk about that topic and use his platform to try and help and save lives, I've got nothing but respect for him because I know how hard it is going through stuff like that.
"It hit my family hard. My uncle killed himself. My cousin killed himself. And I had my own stuff with addiction and my attempted suicide. I know how much courage it takes to come out and talk about that. And for a guy like [Bayless] to blast Dak on his show, on national television, I think that's just wrong. So I wanted to go up to Dak and talk to him and tell him how much I appreciated it."
