Drew Brees has now apologized twice for his words on Colin Kaepernick’s protest.
In an interview with Yahoo, Brees, when asked what he thought about players possibly taking a knee during the anthem to protest police brutality, said, “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”
In a lengthy note the Saints quarterback posted Thursday morning, Brees issued a mea culpa where he apologized that his words came across as “divisive and hurtful.”
The apology hasn’t exactly gone over well with the NFL community, with plenty of people still pretty outraged that Brees has had four years to learn why Kaepernick was protesting and still doesn’t seem to get it.
Brees kind of has one person on his side, though. President Donald Trump tweeted Friday afternoon that Brees shouldn’t have apologized for his original statement and stood by the QBs stance on taking a knee.
…We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2020
“I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high…” the President fired off via Twitter.
He also then restated his original stance on kneeling during the anthem, writing “We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!”
For four years now, Kaepernick has made clear the reasons he decided to take a knee during the national anthem.
“There’s a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality. There’s people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. People are being given paid leave for killing people. That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards,” the former 49ers QB said to reporters.
In September of 2017, President Trump ripped NFL players who were protesting, saying “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners,” he said, “when someone disrespects our flag to say, ‘get that son of a (expletive) off the field right now’? Out. He’s fired.”
Is it a surprise that neither Trump nor Brees really still seem to get it? Probably not.
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