Anger over Drew Brees' national anthem comments came because he didn't acknowledge what has become obvious
- New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees brought a storm of criticism upon himself on Wednesday.
- Brees said that he would "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country" during an interview with Yahoo Finance.
- Brees immediately faced a backlash from across the sports world and even from some of his teammates.
- One failure of Brees' response was that he centered himself and his personal experience in his answer, rather than the experiences of those who were taking part in the protests.
- Brees' also failed to acknowledge the true nature of the protests — standing against police brutality — instead claiming they had something to do with disrespecting the American flag.
- Brees apologized for his comments, but if he wants to improve his understanding as to why his words were hurtful to so many, all he has to do is listen.
On Wednesday, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that he would "never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country."
Brees' comments brought backlash from figures around the sports world, from LeBron James and NFL players across the league to even some of his teammates.
Most notably, newly-signed Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins said in an Instagram video that Brees should "shut the f--- up," calling his comments "hurtful."
As critics of Brees' comments would make clear, his answer failed in both what he said and what he didn't say.
Brees centered the conversation on himself. That's a problem.
Brees' answer prompted an uproar because his answer was about himself rather than those who were taking part in the protest. To illustrate this, it's important to see the entirety of both the question and his response.
"Everyone's looking back now at Kaepernick's protests from a few years ago," said Daniel Roberts of Yahoo Finance, who was conducting the interview. "Obviously, they were always about police brutality, and now it's coming back to the fore, and a lot of people expect that we will see players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.
"I'm curious how you think the NFL will and should respond to that, and of course you're such a leader in the league, what is your responsibility as a leader in times like this for the rest of your teammates and players in the league?"
Roberts framed his question to Brees as a leader of both his team and the NFL. As a 20-year veteran of the league, it's a fair title to ascribe to him. But rather than use his platform to spread the protest's message, Brees described his feelings and relationships with the anthem and flag.
"Well, I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America, or our country," Brees began. It was this comment that would be the first cited by his critics. It shows plenty about Brees' lack of understanding of the moment, and the rest of his answer does not improve.
"Let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played, and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers who fought for this country during World War II — one in the Army and one in the Marine Corps — both risking their lives to protect our country and to try and make our country and this world a better place.
"So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that's what I think about. And in many cases it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed — not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the '60s, and all that has been endured by some many people up until this point.
"Is everything right with our country right now? No, it's not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect for the flag with your hand over your heart, is that it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, that we can all do better, and that we are all a part of the solution."
Brees is in his right to feel all of these feelings when he sees the flag and hears the anthem. No one is upset about that. But choosing to express these personal feelings when asked to expound upon a league-wide issue shows self-centeredness and misunderstanding of the protests.
Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic that previously worked at ESPN, explained that Brees' miscue was nothing new to the black community.
"Drew Brees, unfortunately, was guilty of what too many African-Americans, too many black people, period, often hear from white people," Hill said while appearing on CNN. "That when we were talking about our experiences, he immediately centered himself. As if, for one, he's the only person who is engaging in this conversation that has had family members serve in the military. One of the first things Colin Kaepernick said was that he also had family and friends who served."
Ultimately, the failure in Brees' response was that he chose to center himself, and refused to acknowledge the true nature of the protests.
As Hill said, "The backlash that he received was from people that felt like he took what is a very trying experience of being black in America, and he made it about himself, rather than what the issue is about, which is police brutality."
What Brees left out of his response was just as telling as what he said out loud.
The protests of Kaepernick and others were not about Drew Brees, or his feelings about the national anthem, or his feelings about the flag, or his feelings about the United States of America. They were about police brutality.
Early in Kaepernick's his protest, he explained his stance to reporters gathered in the locker room.
"There's a lot of things that need to change," Kaepernick said. "One specifically is police brutality. There's people being murdered unjustly, and not being held accountable. Cops are getting paid leave for killing people. That's not right. That's not right by anyone's standards."
Roberts even addressed the purpose of Kaepernick's protest in the question he posed to Brees, saying, "Obviously, they were always about police brutality."
But in Brees' response, police brutality failed to get a mention, even as protests for justice after the death of George Floyd took place across the country. It's never been more readily apparent that police brutality is an issue worth addressing — players in the NFL and NBA are taking part in marches, and athletes from around the world are showing solidarity with the movement taking place in the United States.
As ESPN's Mina Kimes explained, Brees needed an explanation that athletes in the NFL are already exhausted from providing.
"Something you hear a lot from players when they're asked about this when they're still asked about this because it's been four years is that they are exhausted," Kimes said on "Around the Horn" on Wednesday. "They are tired of explaining Colin Kaepernick's intent, which he articulated over and over — that it was not about the military, that it was not about the anthem, that it was not about the flag. It was about protesting the very issues that are being protested today. Racism. Police brutality. If you don't understand that by now, you don't have any interest in understanding that."
"If Drew Brees is uncomfortable with that gesture, what it means to him, that's fine," Kimes said. "But he cannot fail to acknowledge the intent of the protest."
After a full day of criticism for his comments, Drew Brees offered an apology on Instagram.
"I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community, and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused," Brees' post read.
"In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy."
Since his apology, some of Brees' teammates have responded. Saints linebacker Demario Davis told CNN that he appreciated Brees taking responsibility for his words once he was called out for them.
"What we had hoped the first time was that Drew would elaborate more on racism and the sentiments of the black community," Davis said. "And he admitted he missed the mark. So for him to come out and say, 'I missed the mark, I've been insensitive, but what I'm gonna start doing is listening and learning from the black community and finding ways that I can help them,' I think that's a model for all of America."
Critics of Brees' comments, whether teammates, or media, or fans, were frustrated with what many interpreted as his willful ignorance of the issues at hand, and the intentions behind Kaepernick's ongoing protests. Brees can't take back what he said, but improving so he better understands the issue moving forward shouldn't prove that difficult.
All he has to do is listen.
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