President Donald Trump on Friday said NFL owners should fire players who take a knee during the national anthem.
"Get that son of a b---- off the field right now, out. He's fired. He's fired!" Trump said during a rally for Republican Senate candidate Luther Strange in Alabama.
Trump went on to suggest that NFL ratings were down because of stricter penalties on hard tackles:
"Because you know, today if you hit too hard — 15 yards! Throw him out of the game. They had that last week, I watched for a coupled of minutes. Two guys, just really, beautiful tackle. Boom! 15 yards. The referee goes on television, his wife's so proud of him. They're ruining the game! They're ruining the game."
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Protests of this nature became a national story when Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem before games during the 2016 NFL season.
While Kaepernick is currently out of the league, protests of a similar nature have become more common across the NFL, with players including Michael Bennett, Marshawn Lynch, Seth DeValve
You can watch an excerpt of the rally below:
You can read a longer transcript of Trump's comments at the rally here:
Trump's comments in Alabama... @ Bryan Armen Graham