NBA Coach Steve Kerr Slams NFL's 'Fake Patriotism' After League Implements National Anthem Rule
Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Thursday slammed the National Football League after the organization acquiesced to President Donald Trump’s demands and implemented a policy forcing players to stand during the national anthem or face a penalty from the league.
Kerr called the move “typical,” accusing the NFL of “playing to their fanbase” and “trying to use the anthem as fake patriotism, nationalism, scaring people.”
“It’s idiotic,” Kerr said. “But that’s how the NFL has conducted their business.”
Contrasting the NFL with his own league, the NBA, Kerr says he’s “proud to be in a league that understands patriotism in America is about free speech and peacefully protesting.”
“Our leadership in the NBA understand when the NFL players were kneeling, the were kneeling to protest police brutality, to protest racial inequality. They weren’t disrespecting the flag or the military. But our president decided to make it about that and the NFL followed suit, pandered to their fanbase, created this hysteria.”
Kerr added the move is “kind of what’s wrong with our country right now.”
“People in high places are trying to divide loyalties, make this about the flag as if the flag is something other than it really is—which is a representation of what we’re about, which is diversity, peaceful protests, right to free speech. It’s ironic actually.”
