Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said on Tuesday that the federal government should not financially support the NFL because of players’ disrespectful “take a knee” protests during the national anthem.
“I believe we ought to terminate all federal government support of the NFL,” Brooks told Breitbart News following the Conversations with Conservatives event at the Capitol. “That would include the termination of any and all advertising that is done on behalf of the federal government — military and non-military — to the extent we do any.”
“The same thing with any other professional sport that insults our country and our flag and our anthem as the NFL has done,” said Brooks, who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus.
CNN Money reported in 2015 the NFL teams get “billions in subsidies from U.S. taxpayers.”
The latest round of controversy over the now infamous Colin Kaepernick move in 2016 when the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback took a knee during the national anthem to protest racism in the United States came on Friday. During a campaign rally in Alabama President Donald Trump expressed his opinion on the matter .
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He’s fired!’” Trump said.
Trump said the protests were a “total disrespect of our heritage” and “a total disrespect of everything that we stand for.”
Trump continued to stoke the controversy on Twitter.
“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Fire or suspend!”
Trump said that NFL attendance and television ratings were “way down,” suggesting that the protests from players could harm the sport.
Several NFL owners have sided with their players, saying they have a right to protest.