Drew Brees interview creates a Social Storm
The New Orleans Saints are in the national spotlight once again, and not for the right reasons. Wednesday's controversy involves quarterback Drew Brees, who offered up an interview to Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance. Brees was asked about Colin Kaepernick amid the George Floyd protests, and his responsibility as a leader in times like this for the rest of his teammates and players in the league.
Brees responded with, "Well, I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country."
"Let me just tell you 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 of the Marine Corps, 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, it 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 everyone, 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’s 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 then we are all part of the solution."
There's been a mammoth flood of backlash on social media, with various teammates, players, athletes, and others speaking out on the comments. One of the most retweeted and favorited responses came from Lebron James.
"WOW MAN!! 🤦🏾♂️. Is it still surprising at this point. Sure isn’t! You literally still don’t understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee?? Has absolute nothing to do with the disrespect of 🇺🇸 and our soldiers(men and women) who keep our land free. My father-in-law was one of those."
James went on to say, "Men who fought as well for this country. I asked him question about it and thank him all the time for his commitment. He never found Kap peaceful protest offensive because he and I both know what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong! God bless you. 🙏🏾✊🏾👑."
