US President Donald Trump called on Friday, August 10, 2018, not to pay players of the professional football league (NFL) who protest during the national anthem before the games, after several of them they did in the first day of preseason of the championship.
"The NFL players are at it again - taking a knee when they should be standing proudly for the National Anthem. Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their “outrage” at something that most of them are unable to define." Trump Tweet
Kneeling, raising their fists, sitting on the benches or waiting in the locker room, the players maintained on Thursday protests, which Trump abhors, against social injustice and police violence against African-Americans.
The president criticized in his tweet that those who demonstrated during the anthem "want to show their outrage at something that most of them can not define." In addition, Trump considered that a football game is not a place to protest, but a show for which fans "are paying a lot of money to see and enjoy."
"They make a fortune doing what they love" Trump Tweet
With their protests, the players not only challenged Trump but also the NFL, which opens this season a new regulation to fine the teams whose members kneel during the national anthem, although they are allowed to stay in the dressing room until the start. of the match.
Trump, who has been facing the players for months, celebrated the approval of the new regulation in May and said that athletes who do not stand up during the anthem.
In fact, the president recently called on the NFL to expel players who repeat the protests for the entire season. The White House suspended in June the president's traditional reception of the NFL league champions, in this case the Philadelphia Eagles, after many of his players opted not to attend the event.
The NFL is the most popular league in the country and football is the sport that moves the most money, with a turnover that reached USD 14 billion in 2017. Forbes stats
On the other hand many athletes have reacted to this. LeBron James said something very importan on a CNN interview:
The basketball star LeBron James on accused US President Donald Trump of using the sport to "divide" the people of his country based on their skin color. "I think our president is trying to split," the new Los Angeles Lakers player said in an interview with CNN. "This is something I can not understand, because I know it's because of the sport that I've been close to a target for the first time," said LeBron, 33, of Akron, a working-class city in northern Ohio.
For almost a year, Donald Trump has criticized football players, mostly blacks, who support a knee during the national anthem to protest against police violence. In May, the president of the United States even said that these players "maybe should not be in the country." Trump Tweet
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