On Sunday evening Trump told reporters that his criticism has ‘nothing’ to do with race, saying: ‘I never said anything about race. ‘This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag’
The NFL’s Sunday Night Football ratings were down again after a weekend in which President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the league’s players for kneeling during the national anthem.
On a day when around 200 NFL players engaged in some form of protest against racial inequality in America by kneeling, sitting, locking arms, or raising a fist during the playing of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ the league endured its worst ratings for Sunday Night Football this season. The Washington Redskins’ 27-10 win over the visiting Oakland Raiders netted an 11.6/20, which is the worst of the three Sunday night games this season, according to Deadline.com.
That’s down eight percent from the Week 2 Sunday night matchup between Atlanta and Green Bay and down 10 percent from the NFL’s Week 3 game a year ago.
The Raiders-Redskins game peaked at 12.5/20 in the second quarter, according to Deadline.com.
Many of the Washington Redskins took a knee before Sunday night’s game against the visiting Oakland Raiders. That game drew the lowest Sunday night ratings of the season for the NFL
Despite the decline, NBC still drew 13.5 million viewers between its pre-game show and the Redskins-Raiders game, making it the highest-rated network of the evening, according to The Futon Critic.
‘NFL attendance and ratings are WAY DOWN,’ Trump tweeted Sunday, prior to NBC’s broadcast of Sunday Night Football. ‘Boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. League should back U.S.’
‘Great solidarity for our National Anthem and for our Country,’ Trump followed. ‘Standing with locked arms is good, kneeling is not acceptable. Bad ratings!’
Trump even went so far as to try to persuade NFL fans to ‘refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country.’
The tweets doubled down on comments he made during a speech in Alabama Friday night.
During the speech he said any player who protests racism by kneeling during the national anthem is a ‘son of a b****’.
Donald Trump implored NFL owners to fire or suspend players who kneel during the anthem
Trump claimed NFL ratings are ‘WAY DOWN,’ which was certainly the case on Sunday night
The protests began during the 2016 preseason when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the anthem to protest police violence against minorities in America. The issue has remained contentious this season, despite the fact that Kaepernick is a free agent.
Only six players protested during the anthem in Week 2, but after Trump’s criticism over the weekend, around 200 players took part on Sunday.
Several NFL owners and league commissioner Roger Goodell responded to Trump’s speech and tweets on Sunday.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who donated money to Trump’s campaign, said he was ‘deeply disappointed’ in the president on Sunday.
Other owners, such as Washington’s Dan Snyder and Jacksonville’s Shahid Khan stood during the anthem while locking arms with their players.
Goodell (above) released a statement as well as a commercial in response to Trump
In response, the NFL emphasized the league’s charitable efforts in response to the recent hurricanes in the south.
‘The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture,’ said Goodell in an official league statement on Sunday. ‘There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we’ve experienced over the last month. Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities.’
The NFL also ran a commercial on Sunday night, which was tweeted out by Goodell himself.
‘We will air this Unity spot in tonight’s game,’ read Goodell’s tweet. ‘It reflects the unifying force of our great game, our players & clubs.’
Trump offered $1 billion to buy the Buffalo Bills in 2014, but was ultimately outbid by another ownership group.