Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs says he’s no longer interested in owning an NFL team.
The 48-year-old rap impresario, who previously sought to buy the Carolina Panthers franchise, said on BigBoyTV Thursday that he’s put off by the league’s recent ruling that mandates players stand for The Star Spangled Banner or remain in the locker room, risking fines if they take a knee, the gesture started by quarterback Colin Kaepernick during the 2016 season.
‘This last move … I don’t even want to own an NFL team no more,’ the Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down singer said, stressing how bad he had hoped to be a firebrand as an owner in the league. (Diddy in December took to social media to vow he’d ‘be the best NFL owner that you can imagine,’ and would ‘immediately address the Colin Kaepernick situation and put him in the running for next year’s starting quarterback.’)
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Change of heart: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, 48, says he’s no longer interested in owning an NFL team after the league’s recent decision to force players stand for The Star Spangled Banner, remain in the locker room or risk a fine
‘I was one of the two last bids for the Panthers,’ Diddy said. ‘Man, I really wanted to go in there and be a part of the NFL and try to be a positive change.’
But with the rule coming down from the league last month from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Diddy said he’s had a change of heart about what being an NFL owner would mean.
‘I don’t want to be associated with oppressing black men,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to be associated with telling grown a– men what they can do and cannot do.
‘I’m just at a point where my feelings are hurt because I’m such an NFL fan. And I hope they do what they have to do to fix it. And I hope that they re-engage my dream to want to do that, because if not, I don’t want to be associated, to be around a table that does that to people at all.’
No thanks: Diddy said he has no desire ‘to be associated with oppressing black men’
Close call: The rap and business star was deep in negotiations to buy the Carolina Panthers
Diddy said that had he been successful in his bid to buy the Panthers, he would have let his players do ‘whatever they want’ under the circumstances.
In announcing the rule change last month, Goodell said the league wants people ‘to stand’ and ‘be respectful to the national anthem.
Trend-setter: Colin Kaepernick began taking the knee in 2016 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers in what he said was a statement against police brutality against minorities. He was snapped in November 2016 before a game in Arizona
Reaction: After President Donald Trump caused a controversy demanding players stand for the anthem last September, many teams and their owners – including the Cowboys and Jerry Jones – engaged in symbolic displays of unity amid the national controversy
‘That’s all personnel, and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion,’ Goodell said. ‘That’s something we think we owe. We have been very sensitive in making sure we give players choices, but we do believe that that moment is important and one we are going to focus on.’
Kaepernick began taking the knee in 2016 as a member of the San Francisco 49ers in what he said was a statement against police brutality against minorities. Despite injuries to multiple starting quarterbacks that would have seemingly opened up a spot for his services, he went unsigned the entire 2017 season and has since sued the league claiming collusion against him.
President Donald Trump exacerbated the situation last September during a rally in Alabama, asking the crowd, ‘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 field right now, out, he’s fired – he’s fired!’