Co-host of The View Sunny Hostin believes former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick should be given a Nobel Peace Prize for kneeling during the national anthem.
Whoopi Goldberg asked Hostin during Tuesday’s episode if Kaepernick was owed an apology after he failed to secure a spot on a team following his demonstrations against police violence by kneeling during the anthem. Hostin responded he should be awarded a global peace prize.
“I think he’s not only owed an apology, Whoopi. I think he’s owed his job. I think he’s owed back pay. And I think he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize,” Hostin said, invoking a peace award given to civil rights era icon Martin Luther King Jr., former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Catholic saint Mother Theresa, and Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel.
Hostin then chided National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell for not mentioning Kaepernick by name during a video statement, apologizing for the league’s position opposing players kneeling during the national anthem.
“I think it’s shameful that people we’re allowed to co-opt that movement and make it about the flag and make it something that it was never about. It really just is shameful. I’m sort of shocked that Roger Goodell never mentioned his name,” she said, insisting protests were “never about the flag.”
Protests during football games first began after Kaepernick sat during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he told NFL Media in 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”
However, after Kaepernick spoke with Nate Boyer, a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, about the level of respect exhibited for the national anthem, he changed his tactic to kneeling during the anthem before every game.
For most of the time during the player protests, public opinion showed over half the country opposed kneeling during the anthem as a manner of protest. However, President Trump brought greater controversy to the situation after reigniting the issue in the fall of 2017.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!'” Trump said, greeted by a wide applause from his supporters.
