Overview

Drew Brees “Players Kneeling In The NFL Comment” refers to a controversial remark from New Orleans Saints football quarterback Drew Brees during an interview with Yahoo Finance. During the interview, Brees was asked about his thoughts on players kneeling again when the NFL season starts, to which he replied, “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.” After the interview in early June 2020, an online debate erupted across social media between supporters and detractors of his statements.

Background

On June 3rd, 2020, Yahoo Finance editor Daniel Roberts asked Brees for comment about how the NFL should respond to players kneeling during the national anthem in the upcoming season (seen below). Brees responded and said:

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 U.S. I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during WW2, one in the Army and one in 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, 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.

The interview was then uploaded to Yahoo Finance’s Twitter^[1] account, where it received nearly 23,000 likes, 13,500 replies and 5,500 retweets.

Developments

Online Reactions

On June 3rd, 2020, numerous users then replied to his remarks with a mixture of backlash and support, including many of his fellow athletes. LeBron James replied to the video on his Twitter^[2] account and said, “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?” The reply (shown below) received almost 250,000 likes and 66,500 retweets.

Malcolm Jenkins, a teammate on the Saints, also followed up to his comments on Twitter^[3] and posted a video response (seen below), receiving over 121,000 likes and 41,000 retweets.

On June 3rd, 2020, former Saints wide receiver Joe Horn reached out to Jeff Duncan of The Athletic to defend Brees, stating, “People should not be throwing Drew Brees under the bus, and they definitely need to pump the brakes on labeling him a racist. I know Drew Brees. Drew has done a lot to help black families and the black community in New Orleans. If Drew Brees didn’t love black families and low-income families he wouldn’t have helped the way he has over the years. People that are criticizing him like LeBron James and other celebrities don’t know him …” The thread (shown below) was posted to Joe Horn’s Twitter^[4] and received over 3,100 likes and 837 retweets.

Later in the day on June 3rd, 2020, protesters in New Orleans could be heard chanting “Fuck Drew Brees,” which was shared to the Bleacher Report’s Twitter^[5] account where it received over 2.4 million views, 30,000 likes and 7,100 retweets (seen below). Daily Snark^[6] reported the same day that several people were also burning Brees jerseys online.

On June 3rd, 2020, Redditor^[7] ForEden posted the question, “What's going on with Drew Brees maybe saying some bad stuff about BLM?” to the r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit, receiving over 3,000 upvotes and 550 comments. The top reply with over 3,300 upvotes read, “Drew Brees was asked what he thought about ‘players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.’ Brees replied, ‘I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the united states or America or our country.’ The response on social media, as laid out by this tweet thread, shows that he has been condemned by players all across the league, and even elsewhere in other sports, and most troubling is even with his own teammates strongly coming out against him. They are saying that they are disappointed that he still doesn't understand what taking a knee was about in the first place.”

Redditor^[8] Miami_Dankphins posted a meme referencing the controversy (shown below) to the r/nflmemes sub, receiving almost 500 upvotes.

The Facebook^[9] page NFL Memes also posted a meme (seen below), receiving over 2,300 likes, 427 comments and 352 comments.

Drew Brees Apology

On June 4th, 2020, Brees posted an apology to his Instagram^[10] account along with a stock photo of an interracial handshake and said:

I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused. In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character. This is where I stand: I stand with the black community in the fight against systemic racial injustice and police brutality and support the creation of real policy change that will make a difference. I condemn the years of oppression that have taken place throughout our black communities and still exists today. I acknowledge that we as Americans, including myself, have not done enough to fight for that equality or to truly understand the struggles and plight of the black community. I recognize that I am part of the solution and can be a leader for the black community in this movement. I will never know what it’s like to be a black man or raise black children in America but I will work every day to put myself in those shoes and fight for what is right. I have ALWAYS been an ally, never an enemy. I am sick about the way my comments were perceived yesterday, but I take full responsibility and accountability. I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening…and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen. For that, I am very sorry and I ask your forgiveness.

The use of the stock photo was later covered by GQ^[11] and mocked by satire website Reductress ^[12] on June 4th, 2020.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References