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.
“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.”