New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees’ commentary Wednesday on the national anthem protests has not been well-received by many players around the NFL.
During an interview with Yahoo Finance, Brees fielded a question about how he’d feel if George Floyd’s death led to increased protests of the national anthem during the NFL season. Brees said he would not agree with that form of protest, because he felt it was letting down his grandfathers, who served in the military.
That didn’t sit well with the McCourty twins, Devin and Jason, who spoke out on their joint-operated Twitter account.
“This is a disgrace!” the McCourtys wrote. “To speak about your grandfathers as if there weren’t black men fighting next to them. Those men later returned to a country that hated them. Don’t avoid the issue and try to make it about a flag or the military. Fight like your grandfathers for whats right!”
This is a disgrace! To speak about your grandfathers as if there weren’t black men fighting next to them.Those men later returned to a country that hated them. Don’t avoid the issue and try to make it about a flag or the military. Fight like your grandfathers for whats right! https://t.co/qag3Igic3V
— Devin&Jason McCourty (@McCourtyTwins) June 3, 2020
Devin McCourty was among the Patriots who kneeled during the national anthem on in 2018 before a game. He explained the gesture was “to send a message of unity and being together and not standing for the disrespect.”
Here’s what Brees said about the potential for increased national anthem protests.
“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country,” Brees said. “Let me just tell 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 and 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. So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed.
“Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ‘60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it is not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and that we are all part of the solution.”