Tiki Barber is so adamant that the New York Giants org. isn't full of a bunch of racists ... he actually had to fight back tears while defending them on Wednesday.
The former G-Men star emotionally refuted Brian Flores' claims on his "Tiki & Tierney" show ... saying flat-out he knows his ex-bosses are not bigots.
"I know [Giants ownership] intimately," Barber said. "So when I say I don't believe they're racists, it's because I know they're not."
As we reported, Flores claimed in a lawsuit Tuesday that he had proof that the Giants only conducted an interview with him to satisfy a league rule that required them to look at minority candidates for their open head coaching position.