Actor James Woods added a new wrinkle to the celebrity cause du jour: kneeling to express “solidarity” with NFL players who “took the knee” during the national anthem on Sunday.
Putting a new spin on the old adage, “if you lay down with dogs, you get up with fleas,” Woods Tweeted a photo of Women’s March leader and noted anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, “taking the knee” with a group of fellow protesters in formal wear, also to, ostensibly, show solidarity with Kaepernick and his NFL colleagues.
“When you sit or kneel in the dirt, here’s who you’re doing it with,” Woods quipped.
When you sit or kneel in the dirt, here’s who you’re doing it with… #LindaSarsour pic.twitter.com/b5LGiD4hZa
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) September 26, 2017
Indeed, Sarsour has been as vocal about her support of NFL protesters as she has about her love for North Korea, regularly taking to Twitter to “thank” and announce her support for players, coaches, celebrities, and politicians who’ve taken selfies of themselves kneeling, as during the “Star Spangled Banner.”
The protest was already problematic — after all, it’s not clear exactly what kneeling celebs are showing solidarity for. It could be noteworthy causes like criminal justice reform rolling back mandatory sentencing laws. Or, it could just be an amorphous protest against “Donald Trump,” with no goal except obvious division, expressed largely through social media.
But Sarsour’s participation adds an entirely new dimension, dragging the protest into the depths of Sarsour’s bizarre ideology, which includes support for anti-Semitic policies, support for female genital mutilation, and support for swapping out America’s leadership for despotic, southeast Asian leader Kim Jong Un. It’s not company anyone — least of all players, coaches and team administrators expressing mere solidarity with their teammates in the face of Presidential criticism — want to find themselves in.
Of course, Sarsour is more than happy to co-opt the NFL protest for her own ends; she’s been, unsurprisingly, building a public friendship with protest leader Colin Kaepernick, all summer. She never misses an opportunity to stay woke, so long as it puts her squarely in the center of attention.
