Former NFL star Arian Foster had a bit of a sparring session with conservative talking head Tomi Lahren during a debate on the latter’s Fox Nation online show according to The Daily Mail. Foster was returning the favor for Lahren appearing on his Now What? podcast, leaving plenty of space for the two personalities to spar over the NFL banning players from kneeling during the National Anthem.
Foster was one of the major names who took part in the protests kicked off by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016. According to Lahren, the protests were disrespectful to a “National Anthem and a flag that means a lot to people.”
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“That flag and that anthem means something because when your fellow soldier comes home underneath a flag and then you see someone during the National Anthem kneeling, it’s an emotional trigger,” Lahren said in the interview according to The Daily Mail.
Foster hit back by noting that taking a knee is a sign of respect for him and other players, and an effort to “show deference” to veterans while still raising awareness.
“If you’re in a football game and somebody breaks their leg and the game stops, what do the players do? They take a knee,” Foster told Lahren. “It’s a sign of respect. Every single Sunday at church, what do people do? They get on both of their knees and they praise their diety…It’s actually a submissive sign. It means you’re honoring whatever it is you’re honoring. It’s not disrespectful in nature, the gesture.”
Lahren then hit back that the message being sent was one of disrespect to the nation.
“But it was done to send a message of, ‘I don’t agree with this country. I’m not going to stand for this flag and this anthem,” Lahren said. “When you’re doing it, you’re saying, ‘I am not going to respect this flag, this moment, this anthem.”
“Why should we respect the anthem?” Foster questioned.
“Well that anthem, it’s a symbol of patriotism,” Lahren responded.
“You hit the nail on the head. It’s a symbol,” Foster countered. “And that symbol, and the beautiful thing about America, is it’s not a place. It’s not a people. It’s an idea. And that symbol means something to you. It also means something to me. And you don’t get to dictate what that symbol means to me and you don’t get to dictate what that symbol means to somebody else.”
We don’t have to agree. We don’t have to try to prove each other wrong. Listening is key. https://t.co/T6Cmydoxhj
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) July 25, 2019
The pair also discussed how President Donald Trump inserted himself into the debate during his 2016 campaign and as the president. This includes Trump referring to players who kneel as “son of a b—” players in a 2017 speech.
“I’m not saying that was the best choice of words. I’m not defending that,” Lahren told Foster.
“It’s not about being the best choice of words. It’s demonstrably divisive to a nation that is already racially infused,” Foster replied.
“I would also argue that kneeling for the National Anthem is divisive,” Lahren added.
“I would agree,” Foster responded. “One is directed towards something and one is directed for something. It’s a false equivalency. The president of the United States is calling an American citizen a son of a b— for exercising his First Amendment right. And there’s a citizen protesting how he sees fit to protest whatever issue is important to him…those are two entirely different things.”
Foster also addressed the NFL’s decision to bar the protests, calling it “logically inconsistent” for the organization to make such claims.
“If you want to say, ‘Don’t make political statements on the field,’ then don’t have the military fly over at the beginning or don’t have a deal with them that the Department of Defense, that has millions of dollars, advertising the military.”
Lahren responded by saying the NFL, as the employer, can make these decisions and it is fair.
