What does it take to finally get billionaires to get off their asses and speak out against another billionaire criticizing their industry? Certainly not pie-in-the-sky thoughts on social justice and equality.Trump's comments have the potential to hurt the bottom line and their all-important brand. And that cannot be allowed to stand. As Sharpe said, "It wasn’t their conscience that moved them. It was the cash."
Surprisingly, perhaps, Sharpe's pointed criticisms are probably the most incisive take I've heard so far, calling out the inherent hypocrisy and greed of an industry that also provides for his own livelihood.
Source: The Root
Shannon Sharpe, the Hall of Fame former NFL tight end-turned-the most woke sports analyst to ever to do it, is back at it again dropping straight gems. Sharpe wasn’t feeling the show of NFL locked-arm unity after President Donald Trump came out and declared that any player who protested during the national anthem should be fired.
“I’m disappointed. And I’m unimpressed,” Sharpe said during Fox Sports’ Undisputed. “Because this is the tipping point. Of the 7,537 things that President Trump has said in the last 50 years, him calling an NFL player an SOB is what brought the NFL, the owners and its players, together. And while some might be moved by the conscience of these NFL owners, it wasn’t their conscience that moved them. It was the cash.”
Sharpe then went on to explain that if the NFL owners were really standing up against injustice, they could’ve done so long ago, like when Trump declared that Mexico was sending nothing but murderers and rapists to the United States. Or they could’ve stood up when he blasted the Gold Star Muslim family who lost their son in war. Or when he called Rosie O’Donnell a pig, or was caught on tape talking casually about how he sexually assaults random women.
Transcript:
I'm disappointed. And I'm unimpressed. I'm disappointed, Skip, and Joy, because this is the tipping point. Of the 7,537 things that President Trump has said in the last 50 years, him calling an NFL player an SOB is what brought the NFL, the owners and its players, together. And while some might be moved by the conscience of these NFL owners, it wasn't their conscience that moved them. It was the cash.
Because see Skip, what we know about people with money, they don't like being told what to do. They don't like being bullied. You see, President Trump has bullied a lot of people. The very first thing that he uttered as he strolled down that escalator 2 and 1/2 years ago, is that Mexico is sending us their worst, murderers, rapists, drug dealers. That didn't shock the conscience of the NFL owner.
Him offending Gold Star Families, nope. Him calling Rosie O'Donnell a pig. Him on the Access Hollywood talking about grabbing hoo-ha. That did not shock the very conscience of seven NFL owners. Skip, allow me a second to name those guys. One, Daniel Snyder. The guy who's on your monitor. Jerry Jones, Bob, Mr. Bob Kraft. McNair, Houston Texans. Woody Johnson, Shahid Khan.
They gave a million dollars for the inauguration of President Trump. And now they seem to be shocked. Every author that's written a book about President Trump, and they started writing books about him in the 1980s, they say he is exactly today as he was then. So that is all I want to say about him, Skip. Now what has happened?
Because what he said in Alabama plays into what-- you know what happens in Alabama, Skip. There's something that's going on in America right now that's more valuable than Google and Apple stock. Is more valuable than gold and bitcoin. It's called race. It's very valuable. And President Trump, he understands that. But Skip, now I'm unimpressed because this wasn't a protest.
This was unity. So what are we showing solidarity against, Skip? We're showing solidarity because President Trump, he challenged the very men, wealthy, wealthy, men. Billionaires. And he told them what you should do if someone protests. You should fire them. They don't like being told what to do, Skip. And then, Skip, he called players that protested the anthem, he called them SOBs.
Think about that now. He called them SOBs. That's what got the owners. That's what got the players to unite. Is that the worst that he's ever said? Absolutely not. Never call Vladimir Putin an SOB. Never called Erdogan of Turkey an SOB. Even those men that walked down the streets in Charlottesville, Virginia, Skip, carrying the tiki lights. Hollering what they were hollering.
Inciting violence. He never said SOB. As a matter of fact, he said, there were some good people in that group. What has transpired, Skip, again, because what were they uniting against? It's almost like they were uniting against Colin Kaepernick's right for free speech. That's not what Colin Kaepernick is talking about. It's almost like they are uniting against you tried to attack us.
Because see what happened, Skip, when he was from the bully pulpit, when he was looking down upon everybody else, the owners never had a problem with that. It wasn't until he came for the NFL that their conscience was shocked. How dare you tell us what we should do. You think you can tell us that we should fire somebody? Because remember, there's a First Amendment.
And, what, 14 months after Colin Kaepernick originally kneeled, and when they ask him, he said it's not about the flag. It's not about the veterans. It's not about the police. It's about the brutality that unarmed men and women of color are suffering. It's about the injustices. It's about the inequities that's going on in America.
That's what he said. And still we talk about the freedom of speech, and in all these teams released the statements, said how divisive. Only the Seattle Seahawks touched on what the real issue was. And the problem that I have, Skip, is that these guys, some of them. And I'm very disappointed, in a few I like to say, I'm very disappointed in one of my very best friends, Ray Lewis.
Ray Lewis sat in that chair right there, and said that he could never kneel. He could never not stand for the national anthem, because so many people died and he had family members that fight for this country for the opportunity-- and the flag means so much to him. And he kneeled. Not on one knee, on both knees. So what were you kneeling for? You kneeled, you showed solidarity, because of what President Trump said?
And when Colin Kaepernick is trying to draw attention to the injustices going on, you deem that inappropriate? LaSean McCoy, you remember what you said about a month ago, about Colin Kaepernick? Not only were you kneeling, you were stretching. You were even worse than kneeling. The hypocrisy.
And that's what I find so ironic about this, Skip. The very people that said they could never, ever, kneel. Some people, I like Tom Brady. Tom Brady said I'm not going to touch it. I prefer you do that. But these, all of a sudden, I just want to know what are unified against? Are you-- are you showing unity? Are you showing solidarity against racism? Or the injustices that's in this country?
Or are you showing solidarity against President Trump and what he said, his attack on the very NFL, the shield. Because what we know about, above all else, those 32 men, and the commissioner, will protect that NFL shield at all costs, against all foreign and domestic. President Trump had to find that out the hard way. They've allowed him to attack so many groups in America. It wasn't until he came for one of 32, and 1,600 men, and only a handful, only a handful of them, Skip, have ever kneeled in protest.
And he called him an SOB. And that shocked the conscience. Skip, not grabbing the Access Hollywood, Joy. That didn't shock anybody. He offended a Gold Star Family that lost their son fighting for this country. He called John McCain, a loser because he was captured.
John McCain was a POW in Vietnam. He refused to come home until everybody came home. NFL didn't say a word. Nobody locked arms. So what are we uniting against? What are we standing for now? If that is what it took, what he said, if that's what shocked your conscience. If that made you choose to unite, so be it. But there's a bigger issue, and the issue is the racism, and the injustices, in America, in which Colin Kaepernick took a knee for in the beginning. And only Martellus, and Michael Bennet, and Malcolm Jenkins, and a handful still understand what the issues are.
