Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal showed support for Drew Brees following his apology for his comments about kneeling during the National Anthem.

Barkley and O’Neal discussed their thoughts during Thursday’s episode of “Inside The NBA.”

“I want to make it clear, I did not like what he said right away, but the vitriol and animosity and hatred he just got for the last 24 hours, I thought it was overkill,” Barkley said. “That’s just my personal opinion.”

“I have never heard a bad word about Drew Brees in my life,” he added. “He made a mistake, but we’ve gotten to the point in society where everybody on social media thinks they are God, judge and jury.” (RELATED: Drew Brees Says He Will ‘Never Agree’ With Anybody Who Disrespects The Flag During The National Anthem)

O’Neal pointed out that Brees’ teammates forgave him and advised him to “do more positive things and less talking.”

“I know Drew Brees, he’s not a racist,” O’Neal said.

Highlight: @readdanwrite asks @drewbrees what the star NFL quarterback thinks about “players kneeling again when the NFL season starts.”@drewbrees: “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”

Full exchange: pic.twitter.com/MpCkFyOMed

— Yahoo Finance (@YahooFinance) June 3, 2020

Brees faced widespread backlash after he said he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country” during an interview Wednesday. He gave a public apology Thursday.

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I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday. In speaking with some of you, it breaks my heart to know the pain I have caused. In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country. They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy. Instead, those words have become divisive and hurtful and have misled people into believing that somehow I am an enemy. This could not be further from the truth, and is not an accurate reflection of my heart or my character. This is where I stand: I stand with the black community in the fight against systemic racial injustice and police brutality and support the creation of real policy change that will make a difference. I condemn the years of oppression that have taken place throughout our black communities and still exists today. I acknowledge that we as Americans, including myself, have not done enough to fight for that equality or to truly understand the struggles and plight of the black community. I recognize that I am part of the solution and can be a leader for the black community in this movement. I will never know what it’s like to be a black man or raise black children in America but I will work every day to put myself in those shoes and fight for what is right. I have ALWAYS been an ally, never an enemy. I am sick about the way my comments were perceived yesterday, but I take full responsibility and accountability. I recognize that I should do less talking and more listening…and when the black community is talking about their pain, we all need to listen. For that, I am very sorry and I ask your forgiveness.

A post shared by Drew Brees (@drewbrees) on Jun 4, 2020 at 5:22am PDT

“I would like to apologize to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday,” Brees said in his apology.

“In an attempt to talk about respect, unity, and solidarity centered around the American flag and the national anthem, I made comments that were insensitive and completely missed the mark on the issues we are facing right now as a country,” he continued. “They lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy.”