Drew Brees has made it clear he’s not a fan of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. In an interview with Yahoo Finance, the New Orleans Saints quarterback was asked about players protesting police brutality and racial injustice during the 2020 season in response to the death of George Floyd. Brees said he believes kneeling during the Star-Spangled Banner is “disrespecting the flag” and will never agree with it.
“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 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.”
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Highlight: @readdanwrite asks @drewbrees what the star NFL quarterback thinks about “players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.”@drewbrees: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”
Full exchange: pic.twitter.com/MpCkFyOMed
— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 3, 2020
Brees went on to say it upsets him when thinking about everything that has been sacrificed during that time, including the civil rights movement. He also mentioned the country still has a lot to learn based on everything that is going on right now. “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.”
When San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the movement of taking a knee during the anthem, he said he was protesting because of racial injustice going on in the country. When he started the protest, he sat during the national anthem. However, after talking to former teammate Nate Boyer, who is a veteran, Kaepernick started to kneel as it was more respectful.
