Donovan McNabb is speaking out for the first time since he was benched by Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan for the remainder of the season.

The veteran quarterback told DC’s ESPN980 earlier today that he felt disrespected by the way the whole thing went down.

“Everything was handled awkwardly,” McNabb said Tuesday on his weekly radio show, “somewhat a disrespect to me and to the team.”

McNabb said he strongly disagreed with the decision to bench him, but he has a bigger problem with the way he says the organization leaked the news to the media before informing him.

“Because of the timing and because of all the leaks and everything that was put out there, and no putting out the fire, so to speak,” McNabb said, “I’m hearing everything through the media.”

Shanahan waited until Thursday evening to tell McNabb that Rex Grossman would be the starter for the rest of the season, even though rumblings of a possible switch had been circulating all week.

“I was pulled back by it. All of a sudden you get this news a couple of days before the game, you do feel somewhat disrespected,” McNabb said. “You could have told me earlier or at least prepared me for it. … The term I did use was professional. You would like to hear it early, and if you hear it late, it kind of throws off the preparation for a lot of guys.”