DENVER (AP) – President Donald Trump couldn’t stand NFL players kneeling in protest during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” His angry call to fire players who didn’t stand for the national anthem rekindled both the national debate over the issue and the movement itself.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick initiated the protests last year to bring attention to racial inequality and police brutality against minorities. Kaepernick is currently out of football, and relatively few players were demonstrating this season before the president stoked his feud with the NFL.
During a speech at a political rally in Huntsville, Alabama, in late September, Trump said, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired, he’s fired.”
Criticism from players, owners and fans – and some praise – greeted Trump’s remarks, which sparked a massive show of defiance that weekend, with more than 200 players protesting by choosing not to stand for the national anthem.
The president’s feud with the NFL is the runaway winner for the top sports story of 2017 in balloting by AP members and editors, easily outdistancing the corruption scandal engulfing college basketball and the Houston Astros winning their first World Series and lifting the spirits of a city devastated by Hurricane Harvey.