President Donald Trump says it's 'disgraceful' NBA players kneel during the national anthem
United States President Donald Trump reiterated his displeasure with athletes' decision to protest racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem. 배트맨토토
Trump, a critic of the movement since it was started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016, was asked about NBA players kneeling during a Wednesday appearance on Fox News' Fox & Friends (via Scott Gleeson of USA Today).
"I think it's disgraceful," Trump said. "We work with (the NBA), we worked with them very hard trying to get open. I was pushing for them to get open. Then I see everybody kneeling during the anthem. That's not acceptable to me. When I see them kneeling during the game, I just turn off the game. I have no interest in the game. Let me tell you this, plenty of other people out there, too."
His comments only became more ridiculous from there. "And Black Lives Matter—Nobody's done better for our Black community than me, nobody and... With the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln it's true," he said. "Nobody has done more for the Black community by far. I would say nobody other than give the one exception, Abraham Lincoln, okay? But even that, I mean to be honest with you... But nobody has done more than I have."
Trump then circled back to his thoughts on kneeling during the National Anthem.
"When I see people kneeling during the playing, and disrespecting our flag and disrespecting our National Anthem... What I do personally is turn off the game," he added. "And the ratings for the basketball are way down, if you know." He suggested that MLB ratings are down, too, due to kneeling protests. "We gotta stand up for our flag, we have to stand up for our country, we have to stand up for our anthem, and a lot of people agree with me. Hey if I'm wrong, I'm gonna lose an election, okay? And that's okay with me."
While Trump claims ratings for the NBA are down, according to Nielsen, ratings for the seeding games over the weekend were up 14 percent compared to the average audience for the 2019-20 season across ABC, ESPN and TNT.
