Giants Co-Owner Steve Tisch Slams President Trump over Anthem Protests

New York Giants Co-Owner Steve Tisch recently claimed that President Trump does not understand why NFL players protest the country during the national anthem, and hopes the president just stops talking about it.

While attending the Hollywood premiere of the new Denzel Washington film, The Equalizer 2, the NFL co-owner and Hollywood film producer said he hoped Trump would be too busy to worry about the NFL during the upcoming 2018 football season.

“Hopefully he’ll have much more going on that he’s going have to deal with and should deal with and must deal with than worrying about what NFL players do,” Tisch told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday.

The billionaire team owner added, “He has no understanding of why they take a knee or why they’re protesting. When the new season starts, I hope his priorities are not criticizing the NFL and telling owners what to do and what not to do.”

The Giants co-owner also announced that he would not punish any of his players if they chose to continue protesting despite the NFL’s new rule meant to curb the protests.

“We support our players,” Tisch concluded. “They are not going to be punished. There is not going to be any punitive action taking place against them.”

The new anthem policy requires players to stand on the sidelines in honor of the national anthem or remain in the locker room if they refuse to stand. The league also said that teams that allow players to protest might be fined. Though, while the league itself won’t fine the players individually, the new rule allows for the teams themselves to fine players.

Most players have been silent about whether or not they will continue protesting in contravention to the NFL’s new rule. However, this week Tennessee Titans star Jurrell Casey broke the ice by saying that he sees no reason to stop the protests.

Casey’s proclamation aside, another measure of how unpopular the anti-protest rule is among players can be seen in the grievance filed this month against the league by the National Football League Players Association.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.