Donald Trump urges NFL teams to fire protesting players
United States president Donald Trump has found himself at the centre of two separate sporting rows, with NFL players angry at his national anthem comments and then withdrawing a White House invite to the NBA champions.
Trump on Friday launched a scathing attack on the NFL players who protest during the American anthem, insisting their team owners should "fire" those who do.
Various players across the league have taken a stand by kneeling or raising their fist during the Star-Spangled Banner since the start of last season, including high-profile figures like Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett and Marshawn Lynch.
Kaepernick, who remains unemployed despite leading a team to the Super Bowl at the end of the 2012 season, was the first to protest over perceived racial injustice and police brutality, with Bennett recently admitting the scenes at a white supremacist rally in Virginia partially motivated his own decision.
Speaking at a rally in Alabama on Friday night, President Trump criticised those who have decided to take a stance during the customary pre-game anthem.
He said: "Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b**ch off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired'. Wouldn't you love it?
"Some owner's going to do that. He's going to say, 'That guy who disrespects our flag, he's fired'. And that owner, they don't know it - they're friends of mine, many of them - they'll be the most popular person for a week in this country. That's a total disrespect of our heritage, that's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for. I know we have freedoms and freedom of choice and many different freedoms but it's still totally disrespectful."
Trump's comments came as the Golden State Warriors mulled over attending the White House to celebrate their NBA win in June.
It is customary for the NBA winners to do so; the Warriors visited Barack Obama in 2015 while the Cleveland Cavaliers were Obama's final sporting guests a year ago.
Two-time MVP Steph Curry said his team could "send a statement" by snubbing it - and the invite was then withdrawn.
Speaking at a press conference, Curry said: "I don't want to go."
Asked what it would achieve, he added: "(To show) that we don't stand for basically what our president has ... the things that he's said and the things that he hasn't said in the right times, that we won't stand for it.
"And by acting and not going, hopefully that will inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to. It's not just the act of not going there. There are things you have to do on the back end to actually push that message into motion."
Curry later told ESPN: "We have an opportunity to send a statement that hopefully encourages unity, encourages us to appreciate what it means to be American and stand for something ... we want to take advantage of this opportunity [by not going]."
Trump has now taken the decision out of Curry and Golden State's hands, tweeting: "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"
Related links
MOST READ
