One Pittsburgh Steelers fan is burning all of his gear after the NFL team chose not to come out of the locker room during the playing of the National Anthem before Sunday’s game.
“Today, my team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, decided that they needed to keep themselves in the locker room while Mr. Villanueva went out to salute the flag and to stand for the anthem. Alright, this is what I think of that,” the man said.
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The YouTuber, who states his name as Robert Williams at the beginning of the video, proceeds to throw in a load of Steelers shirts, hats, and other items. The first piece of clothing he threw in a fire pit was a leather jacket for which he says he paid $450.
Other former Steelers fans took to social media to share similar reactions to the team skipping the “Star Spangled Banner.” Like Williams, there were some fans that proceeded to burn their team apparel.
Another man, who appears to be a veteran, also set ablaze a Steelers cap and jacket while holding the American flag.
I have been a Steelers fan since 1966, but no more. pic.twitter.com/9W4oMl1EhF
— Starving1 (@ArvinGibbs) September 24, 2017
Following Sunday’s game, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin spoke out about his team’s intentions when protesting during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“Many of them felt like something needed to be done. I asked those guys to discuss it and whatever they discussed that we have 100 percent participation or we do nothing,” Tomlin said, according to Fox News.
“They discussed it for an appropriate length of time and they couldn’t come to an understanding, so they chose to remove themselves from it. They were not going to be disrespectful in the anthem so they chose not to participate, but at the same time many of them were not going to accept the words of the president,” he continued.
