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NFL owners voiced concern about 'disastrous' Donald Trump on anthem issue, per recording

'The problem we have is, we have a president who will use (kneeling) as fodder to do his mission that I don't feel is in the best interests of America,' said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft during a confidential meeting.
Credit: Chris Kleponis-Pool/Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron of France April 24, 2018 at the White House in Washington, DC.

During a confidential October meeting last year in New York City, around 30 NFL owners, players and executives directly addressed President Donald Trump's rhetoric that criticized players for kneeling during the national anthem.

The New York Times obtained audio of the three-hour session and on Wednesday published a story detailing the meeting.

“We’ve got to be careful not to be baited by Trump or whomever else,” Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said, referencing Trump's critical tweets and comments about the NFL. Lurie called Trump's presidency "disastrous" and urged players and owners not to be "divided."

At the time, NFL TV ratings were dropping, fans were threatening to boycott and sponsors were becoming disgruntled with the league as more than 200 players knelt during the anthem as a peaceful protest.

“The problem we have is, we have a president (Trump) who will use (kneeling) as fodder to do his mission that I don’t feel is in the best interests of America,” said New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who is a personal friend of Trump's. Kraft donated $1 million to the Trump campaign through his LLC. Kraft referred to the kneeling as the "elephant in the room" and called Trump's public comments "divisive and "horrible."

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started kneeling in 2016 as a protest against racial injustice and police brutality, was also a key topic at the meeting. Eric Reid, Kaepernick’s former teammate and the first player to kneel alongside him, attended the meeting wearing a Kaepernick T-shirt. He expressed concern that the QB was being blackballed.

“I feel like he was hung out to dry,” Reid said. “Everyone in here is talking about how much they support us. ... Nobody stepped up and said we support Colin’s right to do this. We all let him become Public Enemy No. 1 in this country, and he still doesn’t have a job.”

Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula said the NFL was "under assault" and suggested that the league needed a player spokesperson — comparable to Charlton Heston's former role with the National Rifle Association — as a way to clean up the league's image.

“For us to have a face, as an African-American, at least a face that could be in the media,” Pegula said, “we could fall in behind that.”

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair urged players to stop kneeling.

“You fellas need to ask your compadres, fellas, stop that other business, let’s go out and do something that really produces positive results, and we’ll help you,” he said.

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