“I don’t desecrate my flag”: Jim Brown criticizes Kaepernick-style protests

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Hall of Famer Jim Brown doesn’t believe that Colin Kaepernick and others who kneel during the national anthem are protesting the right way.

“Colin has to make up his mind whether he’s truly an activist or he’s a football player,” Brown told The Post Game. “If you’re trying to be both — football is commercial. You have owners. You have fans. And you want to honor that, if you’re making that kind of money.”

He suggested that the choice to protest the anthem itself was not the right way to protest.

“I’m going to give you the real deal: I’m an American,” the  former running back said. “I don’t desecrate my flag and my national anthem. I’m not going to do anything against the flag and national anthem. I’m going to work within those situations. But this is my country, and I’ll work out the problems, but I’ll do it in an intelligent manner.”

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“If you have a cause, I think you should organize it, present it in a manner where it’s not only you standing or sitting on one knee, but a lot of people that are going to get behind each other and do something about it,” Brown said. “I ask you one question: Who is Colin calling on to follow what he’s talking about?”

Since then, Shannon Sharpe, host of FS1’s “Undisputed,” dragged Brown for his comments.

“I don’t really know [that] there’s a right way and a wrong way to protest,” Sharpe told TMZ Sports on Sunday. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to handle Black unarmed men and women in America. … I just think the thing is … things are different now. I’m sure they told him in ’67 when he called that summit, I’m sure they said it wasn’t the right way.”

The “summit” reference hearkens back to a meeting that Brown allegedly held with other black athletes in which it is often reported that they supposedly decided whether or not to support Muhammad Ali, who famously refused to participate in the Vietnam War.