O.J. Simpson Says NFL Should ‘Play National Anthem When Players Are In Locker Room’ To Avoid Kneeling Controversy

OJ Simpson

O.J. Simpson Says NFL Should ‘Play National Anthem When Players Are In Locker Room’ To Avoid Kneeling Controversy

Many celebrity athletes have been weighing in on their thoughts about kneeling during the National Anthem and former NFL running back O.J. Simpson gave his perspective on the topic. On Monday (June 15th) O.J. Simpson, uploaded a video to Twitter to share his personal views on kneeling as a way to protest. He spoke about former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who infamously kneeled during games in 2016 to protest police brutality. He was allegedly blackballed from the league and hasn’t been selected by a team since. 

Colin Kaepernick

O.J. Simpson said, 

“I still think most of the people misunderstood what Kaepernick was doing. They should know by now. It wasn’t about disrespecting soldiers and disrespecting the American flag. It was about using the flag to bring attention to some injustices that exist in our society.

He also addressed Drew Brees’ controversial statements about kneeling during the national anthem.

Drew Brees said what he said, and you know I support Drew – say whatever you want to say.”

He continued

“It kind of bothered me when he brought up his two grandparents having fought in a war and it was disrespectful to his grandfathers. Hey, our fathers, grandfathers, and uncles fought in those same wars and when they came home they couldn’t even go into the same bathrooms as your grandfather. They couldn’t sit at the same counter as your grandfather. So to me, that was disrespectful to the flag.” 

Highlight: @readdanwrite asks @drewbrees what the star NFL quarterback thinks about "players kneeling again when the NFL season starts."@drewbrees: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”

Full exchange: pic.twitter.com/MpCkFyOMed

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 3, 2020

O.J. Simpson also gave the NFL advice on how they can potentially avoid controversy once the season starts back up again. 

“Kaepernick didn’t do what he did to disrespect America, to disrespect the army, to disrespect the flag. If the NFL wants to avoid a whole lot of controversy and rigmarole this year – the players warm-up, they go in the locker room 20 minutes before the game and they come out and play. Play the national anthem when the players are in the locker room. Just do that and save a lot of this crap. The visual, the visual is not a nice visual but it’s done for a reason. If you don’t like it play the national anthem when the players are in the locker room. That’s all I’m saying.” 

Kneeling for the National Anthem was not about disrespecting the flag!!! pic.twitter.com/Kbp4oxmqA3

— O.J. Simpson (@TheRealOJ32) June 15, 2020

O.J. Simpson’s recent remarks on players kneeling seem to be a little different from comments he’s made on the subject in the past. In 2018 he said the felt that Colin Kaepernick made a mistake by kneeling during the National Anthem.  

“I think Colin [Kaepernick] made a mistake. I really appreciate what he was trying to say. I thought he made a bad choice in attacking the flag.”

What are your thoughts on O.J.’s comments? Let us know in the comments.