NFL spokesman to Donald Trump: you’re the problem
After a weekend full of protests, statements, and solidarity on football fields across the nation, the National Football League issued its official remarks on the matter today. The NFL’s spokesman has delivered a message loudly and clearly to the media and the public: the league is fine, the players are fine, the coaches are fine, the team owners are fine… and Donald Trump is the problem.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart made a number of definitive statements today, after Trump had called quarterback Colin Kaepernick a “son of a bitch” and then called for players to be fired and for games to be boycotted. He made clear that no players or teams will be punished for any of the actions they took during the National Anthem over the weekend. Some players took a knee, others locked arms, and three teams decided to stay in the locker room. He also had a message for Trump.
In reference to Trump’s decision to tweet angry things about the NFL all weekend without ever reaching out to the league itself, Lockhart said “If the president wants to engage in something positive, productive & constructive, he knows our number” (link).. He also put his finger on the real controversy here: “When the President of the United States calls anyone a ‘son of a bitch’, that’s a story.”
Finally, the NFL spokesman took Donald Trump’s own prior excuse used in his “grab them by the…” scandal and spun it around on him by stating “Everyone should know, including the president, that this is what real locker room talk is.” Meanwhile, Yahoo Sports is reporting that NFL television ratings were up this weekend (link). So much for Trump’s insistence that the games be boycotted.
