The protests that have occurred across the United States over the last week in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a police officer, have brought Colin Kaepernick’s protest during his final season in the NFL back into the discourse. Kaepernick famously sat on the bench and then knelt during the national anthem, saying that he wanted to bring light to the issues of police brutality, injustice, and systematic oppression that exist in the United States.
That conversation never really happened, though, because it was quickly morphed into a conversation about disrespecting the flag of the United States and the national anthem. A number of folks adopted that line of thinking, including New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who was quoted at the time as saying, “there’s plenty of other ways that you can do that in a peaceful manner that doesn’t involve being disrespectful to the American flag” and “it’s an oxymoron that you’re sitting down, disrespecting that flag that has given you the freedom to speak out.”
While that wasn’t what was happening, it still caught on, and these important conversations never happened. Now, they’re back in the discourse following Floyd’s death, and on Wednesday, Brees made it clear that his thinking has not changed in a cameo on Yahoo! Finance.
Highlight: @readdanwrite asks @drewbrees what the star NFL quarterback thinks about “players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.”@drewbrees: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”
Full exchange: pic.twitter.com/MpCkFyOMed
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 3, 2020
“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country,” Brees said. “Lemme just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army, one in the Marine Corps, both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place.”
The sentiment led to Brees getting called out by a number of individuals in the world of sports, with Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James joining the chorus. James, in a pair of tweets, made it clear that he believes Brees does not understand why Kaepernick did what he did, and that he spoke to his father-in-law, a veteran, who supported Kaepernick.
WOW MAN!!
. Is it still surprising at this point. Sure isn’t! You literally still don’t understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee?? Has absolute nothing to do with the disrespect of
and our soldiers(men and women) who keep our land free. My father-in-law was one of those https://t.co/pvUWPmh4s8
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 3, 2020
men who fought as well for this country. I asked him question about it and thank him all the time for his commitement. He never found Kap peaceful protest offensive because he and I both know what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong! God bless you.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 3, 2020
LeBron is hardly the only athlete who has expressed serious discontent with what Brees said, as a number of his teammates on the New Orleans Saints have also expressed disappointment in the team’s Super Bowl winning quarterback.