New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said Wednesday during an interview with Yahoo Finance that he "will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country" -- comments he would come under intense criticism for and would later attempt to clarify.
Brees' initial comments came following a question on how the NFL should respond if players kneel during the national anthem this season in protest of police brutality and racial injustice and what his responsibility is as a leader during a time like this. The comments were Brees' first since George Floyd was killed at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer last week and came after he posted an Instagram calling for unity Wednesday morning. "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country," Brees said. "Let me just tell 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 Corp. 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 Saints dynamic will be interesting this year. On paper they have a talented team but it will be an interesting experiment in human dynamics because no matter what is said about coming together afterwards many of the people involved are highly emotional and will likely hold a grudge for a long time.
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