--- title: Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem description: President Donald Trump once again denounced the NFL after more than 200 football players kneeled or sat during the National Anthem. canonical: https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-25T13:03:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:16:30.247Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem og:description: "The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race" og:url: https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63f3660ca04a27f4/6988df2e0a4a2216479d00b2/donald-trump-rally-nfl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2220 og:image:height: 1249 og:image:alt: Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem twitter:description: "The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63f3660ca04a27f4/6988df2e0a4a2216479d00b2/donald-trump-rally-nfl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem: ‘It Is About Respect’ > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 25, 2017 1:03 PM UTC  President Donald Trump at a rally in support of Sen. Luther Strange, in Huntsville, Ala. President Donald Trump at a rally in support of Sen. Luther Strange, in Huntsville, Ala. Brynn Anderson—AP  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Sep 25, 2017 1:03 PM UTC President Donald Trump once again [denounced the NFL](http://time.com/4955127/trump-twitter-nfl-kneeling-protests/) in a series of tweets Monday morning after more than 200 football players either took a knee or sat during the National Anthem over the weekend. Trump said kneeling, instead of standing, while the anthem plays is disrespectful to the country. He also said the act “has nothing to do with race.” “It is about respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem,” Trump tweeted. “NFL must respect this!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912278438127525888) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912280282224525312) Several NFL players have been kneeling during the National Anthem before games after former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first started the movement last year. The [Associated Press](https://apnews.com/dc7ba43160d049eca3a0460d093ad8e1/The-Latest:-NASCAR-owners-discourage-anthem-protests) said about one out of eight NFL players did not stand for the national anthem over the weekend. Trump had lashed out on the players who followed Kaepernick’s lead during a Friday rally in Alabama. “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!” Trump told the crowd. On Monday, Trump also [praised NASCAR](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/912276850793213952) after no drivers took part in the silence protest following warnings from several team owners. “So proud of NASCAR and its supporters and fans,” Trump tweeted. “They won’t put up with disrespecting our Country or our Flag – they said it loud and clear!” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/"},"headline":"President Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem: ‘It Is About Respect’","datePublished":"2017-09-25T13:03:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:16:30.247Z","description":"\"The issue of kneeling has nothing to do with race\"","url":"https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/","keywords":["Donald Trump","Football","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63f3660ca04a27f4/6988df2e0a4a2216479d00b2/donald-trump-rally-nfl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63f3660ca04a27f4/6988df2e0a4a2216479d00b2/donald-trump-rally-nfl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Brynn Anderson—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4955544/trump-nfl-kneeling-anthem/","name":"President Trump Slams NFL After Players Kneel During National Anthem: ‘It Is About Respect’"}}]}] ```