CNN’s Don Lemon spread an egregiously false claim Monday night by declaring that taking a knee at an NFL game “was never about the flag.”
Lemon took at jab at President Donald Trump for insulting the “hardworking professional men” in the NFL, claiming that the president’s recent “son of a b*tch” comment was not only aimed at them but also at their mothers.
“Taking a knee at an NFL game was never about the flag or the military,” Lemon said. “That’s what the president wants you to believe.”
The segment by Lemon included a clip from last year when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick claimed it was the media who painted him as “anti-American.” However, Kaepernick specifically said the week before that he refused to show support for the U.S. flag:
I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.
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