Donald Trump says 'NO KNEELING' as NFL promises to rally against racial discrimination

Donald Trump says kneeling is an act of protesting against the American flag
AP
Matt Davies6 June 2020

The NFL has apologised for "not listening" to players regarding racism in the past, stating protest during the national anthem will now be allowed, even encouraged.

The act of taking a knee - a practice first initiated by Colin Kaepernick in 2016 - has previously led to a number of NFL players being banned.

The NFL have now revised their stance, however as mass protests continue following the death of George Floyd, with another large gathering expected to take place in Washington DC on Saturday.

"We were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

"We, the National Football League, believe black lives matter," he added.

George Floyd protesters 'take the knee'

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President Donald Trump has taken an alternative outlook, however.

He has jumped to the defence of NFL quarterback Drew Brees, who faced serious backlash after implying kneeling protests during the national anthem were unpatriotic.

Brees was fiercely criticised by team-mates Michael Thomas, Malcolm Jenkins and Emmanuel Sanders.

NBA superstar LeBron James also took to Twitter to state “You literally still don’t understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee?? Has absolute nothing to do with the disrespect of [America] and our soldiers (men and women) who keep our land free. My father-in-law was one of those.”

Brees has since apologised accepting that they "completely missed the mark" and isisting he would "do better" moving forward in an Instagram video.

But Trump disagreed with his apology, saying on Twitter: “I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high.

"We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag - NO KNEELING!”

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