New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has come under fire for saying he “would never agree” with forms of demonstrations that he believes are disrespectful to the American flag.
The response was in reaction to a question about whether Brees would support kneeling during the national anthem, an act first made famous by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016.
Brees’ comments angered many black athletes across the sports spectrum, including LeBron James and Brees’ teammate Malcolm Jenkins.
The criticism did not stop there, though.
Florida A&M head coach Willie Simmons posted a lengthy message on Twitter saying, “I don’t get it” in reaction to Brees’ comments.
— Coach Willie Simmons (@HCWillieSimmons) June 4, 2020
“Are you more upset about how or why we are protesting?” Simmons wrote. …”if you are indeed more upset about why we are protesting, then I respectfully ask that you (at least for the time being) refrain from telling us how you seeing us kneel during the anthem makes you feel and join us in dismantling a system that gives us a reason to kneel in the first place.”
Simmons has been very outspoken on social media about issues related to race and injustice in recent weeks commenting on the deaths of Ahmaud Aubrey and George Floyd.
“AMERICA, can my innocent little boy and millions of others who look like him grow up in a country where he’s not judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character???,” Simmons wrote following the death of Floyd.
