Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones fined $250K for 'inadvertent' obscene gesture

The NFL fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making what appeared to be an obscene gesture at fans during his team's game with the New York Jets, officials said Wednesday.

The NFL fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making what appeared to be a brief, obscene gesture at fans during his team's recent road win against the New York Jets, officials said Wednesday.

In the final minutes of Dallas' 37-22 triumph at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, it looked like Jones flashed his right middle finger at fans seated near his box.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed the fine in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday, adding, "He has the right to appeal the discipline."

Jones, 82, said he wasn't gesturing angrily at Jets fans, but celebrating a final Dallas touchdown with a throng of nearby Cowboys fans.

The gesture was meant to be a thumbs up, Jones said, but accidentally came out the way it did.