US President Donald Trump insisted today that protests by National Football League (NFL) players during the performance of the national anthem “have nothing to do with race,” stating that those who protested this Sunday they were booed.
“The issue of kneeling (when the hymn sounds) has nothing to do with the race – it’s about respect for our Country, the Flag and the National Anthem,” he said. Twitter.
That was the president’s response to what happened on Sunday, when numerous NLF players heard before their matches the national anthem with a knee on the ground or entwining their arms with their teammates, coaches and owners of their teams in a sign of unity.
According to Trump in another tweet, those who protested were “a small percentage” and were “booed by many people” who demand “respect” for the American flag.
The controversy began Friday with Trump’s criticism of mostly black NFL players who have protested police violence against African Americans by placing a knee on the ground during the performance of the national anthem.
Trump urged the owners of the NFL teams to fire critical players and added that if fans “left the stadium” when such protests take place, those “things would stop.”
Protests during Sunday’s NFL games, in which some players even refused to leave the locker room until the national anthem was over, were a reaction to Trump’s criticism.
In contrast to what happened in the NFL games, Trump praised today in another tweet the athletes of the Nascar car race and his followers, who stressed that they have said “loud and clear” that “they will not tolerate the lack of respect “to the country or flag.
