NFL quarterback Drew Bees has apologized for making insensitive comments in regards to NFL players taking a stand against racial inequality and injustice during the national anthem at NFL games according to CNN.
Brees, who plays the quarterback position for the New Orleans Saints, caused a major uproar when he stated that he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America” during an interview with Yahoo Finance.
The quarterback’s statements came up in an interview when he was asked to revisit former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protest of police brutality against minorities. As the nation knows, Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem before games in protest of police brutality against blacks and racial injustice in America.
Brees said: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. 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. And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ‘60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point.“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.”
After getting major blowback from sports players like teammate Malcolm Jenkins and NBA great LeBron James and hearing about it on social media, Brees backtracked and released this statement and apology today.