Drew Brees has issued an apology for comments he made about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
While posting a photo of a white person shaking hands with a black person, the New Orleans Saints quarterback wrote, “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 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,” the athlete explained. “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.”
The 41-year-old added that he supports the black community in the fight against racial injustice and police brutality, and acknowledges he “will never know what it’s like to be a black man or raise black children in America.”
However, Brees — who calls himself an “ally” — “will work every day to put myself in those shoes and fight for what is right.”
While speaking to Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, Brees was asked what he thinks about “players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.” The interviewer also brought up Colin Kaepernick, who was the first football player to kneel during the “The Star-Spangled Banner” in 2016.
Brees responded, “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 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.”
He continued, “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 the interview went viral, Brees’ comments were criticized by NBA superstar LeBron James, as well as Brees’ own teammate Michael Thomas.
On Thursday, Thomas accepted Brees’ apology, writing on Twitter, “One of my brothers made a public statement yesterday that I disagreed with. He apologized & I accept it because that’s what we are taught to do as Christians. Now back to the movement! #GeorgeFloyd.”
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