Despite the protests taking place across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is still not for NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality during the 2020 season.
On Wednesday, Brees spoke with Yahoo Finance and says he still views anthem protests as disrespectful to the flag, which is something he “will never agree with.”
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. 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 Corp. 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.”
Brees faced immediate backlash over his comments about anthem protests on Twitter.
— Cari Champion (@CariChampion) June 3, 2020
— Joel D. Anderson (@byjoelanderson) June 3, 2020
But he posted a black box on instagram like he did somethin. That's the issue. https://t.co/bUs3g8AW86
— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) June 3, 2020
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) June 3, 2020
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) June 3, 2020
— shalise manza young (@shalisemyoung) June 3, 2020
It's playing as well as you might expect:https://t.co/PxlDRBXBQ7
— Tim Baysinger (@tim_bays) June 3, 2020
