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Drew Brees Rejects Donald Trump's Statement Against National Anthem Protests

By Jerry Trotta

New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees posted an impassioned Instagram directed at President Donald Trump.
New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees posted an impassioned Instagram directed at President Donald Trump. /

Drew Brees has spent the last 72 hours doing damage control after he made insensitive comments about NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem. In the interview with Yahoo Finance, the New Orleans Saints quarterback failed to acknowledge that the movement inspired by Colin Kaepernick was carried out to protest racial injustice and police brutality.

Brees has since released two apologies via social media and President Donald Trump actually responded to one of them by asserting he "should not have taken back his original stance."

In his latest move, Brees penned a passionate message to Trump on Instagram in which he noted that "this is not an issue about the American flag" and "never has been."

View this post on Instagram

To @realdonaldtrump Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been. We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities. We did this back in 2017, and regretfully I brought it back with my comments this week. We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform. We are at a critical juncture in our nation’s history! If not now, then when? We as a white community need to listen and learn from the pain and suffering of our black communities. We must acknowledge the problems, identify the solutions, and then put this into action. The black community cannot do it alone. This will require all of us.

A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees) on

In this post to Trump, Brees admits he wasn't properly educated on the message that kneeling during the anthem was sending.

Following his social media post, Brees' teammates have come out in support of him for making his thoughts clear to the president. This includes All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas.

Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, who cussed Brees out in his own rant, posted an Instagram story to acknowledge that he appreciates Brees for listening.

While many of Brees teammates were furious with him for his original comments, things have most certainly changed over the last two days. For anyone thinking the New Orleans locker room was divided, that doesn't appear to be the case.