Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins says he thinks President Donald Trump is too “close-minded” to understand why some athletes knelt during the national anthem last season.
Hopkins told TMZ on Thursday that Trump is offended because the players are kneeling during the national anthem but that’s not what the players are trying to communicate.
“I think Trump is more closed-minded and he thinks the reason that we’re kneeling is because of the flag when that’s, like, not at all the reason we’re kneeling,” Hopkins told TMZ.
Hopkins said all the kneeling during the national anthem is not meant to offend veterans or serving military members — and that some understand that.
“I kneeled last year and one of my best friends is a Purple Heart veteran and my uncle is a Purple Heart veteran and they understand that it’s not about the flag,” Hopkins told TMZ.
Hopkins took the knee along with some of his fellow Houston Texans on Oct. 29 to protest comments made by their team’s owner, Bob McNair, who noted that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison” when describing NFL players kneeling in defiance of NFL owners.