U.S. President Donald Trump discussed NFL player's national anthem protests at an event on Friday event as "disrespect," saying that he would love to see an NFL owner "get that son of a bitch off the field."
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The NFL has since responded:
"The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture. There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we've experienced over the last month. Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming forced for good our clubs and players represent in our communities."
Colin Kaepernick's mother also responded to the comments after her son helped lead the charge on national anthem protests last year:
The full quote from Trump:
Wouldn't you love one of these NFL owners... when someone disrespects our flag say, "Get that son of a bitch off the field, right now, out, he's fired."
In reaction, NFL players have responded, and they're apparently not planning on stepping aside quietly:
As of this writing, the NFL has not responded:
The live crowd applauded the comments from the President.
Trump also referenced NFL ratings, which are down so far this year, and blamed the drop on the protests negatively affecting the game.
The clear shot here seems to be taken at former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was the driving force behind the protests last year. Many players across many different teams and sports have since joined in on the protest during the anthem, generating a clear controversy between two sides of the country.
We'll see how many turn around and join the protests after these Trump's comments.
