On Saturday, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees spoke to local media as NFL pre-season training begins to ramp up.
Brees opened with a statement regarding the controversy surrounding his June 3 interview with Yahoo Finance during which he was asked about anthem-kneeling.
The quarterback stated that he has always “felt compelled to serve,” which is allegedly why he and his wife moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. After expressing that his time in the city has been incredibly “rewarding,” Brees addressed the interview directly.
NOLA has provided the following partial transcript:
Going back to my comment on June 3, to think for a second that New Orleans or the state of Louisiana or the black community would think that I was not standing with them for social justice, that completely broke my heart. It was crushing. Never, ever would I feel that way.
I recognize that I missed an opportunity that day. I had an opportunity to talk about and emphasize the social injustices that exist for our black community and our need as a country to support them and to advocate for systemic change. And my lack of awareness in that moment hurt a lot of people.
Brees continued, saying that he “will always stand for the flag because of what it means to me, and to honor all those who have sacrificed, who have served and died for our country, and all those who have struggled to move this country forward.”
However, the quarterback added that he respects those who kneel or otherwise peacefully protest in order to “bring attention to the social injustices and systemic racism that so many have endured and continue to endure in our country.”
Brees continued, saying that he “will always support and advocate for the black and brown communities in the fight for social injustices,” and that he “feels a great sense of responsibility to serve and to lead and to bring true equality to everyone.”
Brees has been dogged by controversy ever since an early-June interview with Yahoo Finance Editor-at-Large Daniel Roberts.
During the interview, Roberts asked Brees about kneeling during the national anthem, as it was likely to return in the wake of the George Floyd protests. Brees replied, saying that he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America, or our country.”
He continued, speaking about what the American flag and the national anthem meant to him personally.
The quarterback concluded: “Is everything right with our country right now? No, it’s not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better, and that we are all part of the solution.”
For his remarks, Brees was dragged.
After the backlash, he issued the following apology on Instagram:
On June 5, the quarterback addressed President Trump directly, writing in part:
Through my ongoing conversations with friends, teammates, and leaders in the black community, I realize this is not an issue about the American flag. It has never been. We can no longer use the flag to turn people away or distract them from the real issues that face our black communities.
We did this back in 2017, and regretfully I brought it back with my comments this week. We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality, and judicial & prison reform.