House Speaker Paul Ryan said he does not back NFL football players kneeling during the national anthem, which he said, “should be celebrated.”
Ryan was asked during a press conference whether he backed President Trump’s call for NFL owners to fire players who kneel during the national anthem.
“People are clearly within their rights to express themselves as they see fit,” Ryan, R-Wis., who is a huge Green Bay Packers fan, told reporters Tuesday.
“My own view is that we shouldn’t do it on the anthem,” Ryan said. “The national anthem, our flag and the people who defend it and who represent it should be celebrated everywhere and always. That is my opinion.”
While the kneeling protests during the anthem have been taking place for more than a year, they became front page news this weekend after President Trump spent days attacking the NFL for allowing the protests to continue.
The president’s statements led to a number of NFL teams to partake in various shows of unity and sparked more players to kneel during the anthem as a protest against racism.
