NFL legend Brian Urlacher is having a normal one on social media.
Months after catching some heat for defending Donald Trump’s criticism of the protests in the wake of Geoge Floyd’s death, the former Bears linebacker is back at it again. On Thursday, he liked an Instagram post supporting Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who has been charged with the shooting deaths of two protesters in Kenosha, Wisc.
The post in question features an image of a gun-toating Rittenhouse with the caption “Free Kyle Rittenhouse!!!! … Patriot Lives Matter.” Apparently, Urlacher is on board with that message.
Brian Urlacher liked this pic.twitter.com/kP7Epfvk99
— Jerry Falwell's Marriage Counselor (@lib_crusher) August 27, 2020
This is beyond politics. Urlacher is openly supporting an accused murderer and framing it as some good ole’ fashion patriotism. If that weren’t bad enough, Urlacher followed that up with a post of his own, pointing out the fact that Brett Favre played an NFL game the day his father died while NBA players decided not to play after … well, I’ll just let him take it from there:
Some seriously ignorant shit from Brian Urlacher's Instagram. pic.twitter.com/o5zaIUQTSC
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) August 27, 2020
Yeah, that’s Urlacher defending the behavior of the Kenosha police officer who unloaded seven rounds into the back of an unarmed American. Very cool stuff, Brian. Blame the victim.
Of course, the comparison is ridiculous. NBA players sat out in an act of defiance and with the aim to make it clear: What happened to Jacob Blake would no longer be tolerated. Favre, meanwhile, had nothing to protest. His decision to play was a personal one. The NBA players’ decision went beyond their own self-interest.
Either Urlacher recognizes the difference and is posting in bad faith, or he truly doesn’t see the difference between the two situations. In either case, one thing is clear: Urlacher’s opinion on such matters is useless.