Tomi Lahren and retired running back get into heated debate over ‘inconsistent’ NFL kneeling ban
Unsurprisingly, the two are polar opposites on the issue of the NFL's attitude toward the kneeling gesture that started with Colin Kaepernick
Conservative mouthpiece Tomi Lahren is back at it again, and this time the Fox News host went head to head with former NFL running back Arian Foster about those who kneel in protest during the National Anthem.
According to Fox News, on Wednesday, Foster, who played seven seasons for the Houston Texans and retired after a season with the Miami Dolphins, appeared during the latest episode of Lahren’s Fox web show No Interruption, in exchange for her appearing on his new podcast ‘Now What?’
READ MORE: Miami Dolphins player says he plans to continue police brutality protest during national anthem
During the 25-minute exchange, Lahren questioned the All-Pro running back, about his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel beginning with the 2016 NFL pre-season, as a symbolic response to the series of high-profile police shootings of Black men across the country.
Lahren explained to Foster, who was amongst those who knelt, why the gesture angered her and her fellow conservatives.
“It is showing disrespect to a National Anthem and a flag that means a lot to people, whether they are Black, white, Christian, Jewish, atheist, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “That flag and that anthem means something because when your fellow soldier comes home underneath a flag and then you see someone during the National Anthem kneeling, it’s an emotional trigger.”
“If you’re in a football game and somebody breaks their leg and the game stops, what do the players do? They take a knee. It’s a sign of respect,” Foster pushed back, explaining that players specifically chose kneeling to show deference to military veterans while also calling attention to the plight of the Black community.
“Every single Sunday at church, what do people do? They get on both of their knees and they praise their deity,” he continued. “It’s actually, it’s a submissive sign. It means you’re honoring whatever it is you’re honoring. … It’s not disrespectful in nature, the gesture.”
“But it was done to send a message of, ‘I don’t agree with this country. I’m not going to stand for this flag and this anthem,’ ” Lahren countered, undeterred. “When you’re doing it, you’re saying, ‘I am not going to respect this flag, this moment, this anthem.'”
Later, when Lahren was asked about the exhcange, she called it a “great conversation.”
But Foster, asked if he thought conservatives were unfairly censored on social media, he compared their rhetoric to that of “white supremacists.”
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