US President Donald Trump has said his criticism of National Football League (NFL) players who kneel during the national anthem is not race-related.
“The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race,” he said in a tweet on Monday. “It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem. NFL must respect this!”
His comment echoed a similar remark he made the previous day. “This has nothing to do with race. I’ve never said anything about race,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
“I think the owners should do something about it. It’s very disrespectful to our flag and our country,” he added.
On Friday, Trump set up a firestorm in the world of sports by using profanity to describe NFL players who kneel during the anthem, and then doubled down on his criticism in a series of follow-up tweets.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a b***h off the…