The NFL’s own social team went behind the league’s back, created this video with players, met with Goodell after doing it and then got the league to come out with an apology for its previous inaction.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected. https://t.co/v5iWrbGm9V

— Adam White (@FOSAdam) June 5, 2020

The New York Times reports:

The protracted debate in the N.F.L. over players protesting racial injustice during the national anthem reignited with force on Friday as President Trump rekindled his war with the league over the issue and the league’s commissioner, Roger Goodell, issued his strongest support yet for the players seeking to fight racism and police brutality.

In a swift response to a video montage featuring star players asking the league to address systemic racism, Goodell said he apologized for not listening to the concerns of African-American players earlier and said he supports the players’ right to protest peacefully. During the 2016 season, Colin Kaepernick started the movement within the league when he knelt to call attention to racial injustice and violence by police, but no team has offered him a contract since then.

Goodell did not directly name Kaepernick in his video. Still, his comments were diametrically opposed to those made by the president. Trump defended New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who said this week that it was disrespectful to kneel during the pregame playing of the “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

After a swift rebuke from fellow N.F.L. players, including some of his teammates, Brees apologized on Thursday and then, in a social media post Friday night that was addressed to Trump, issued a more forceful repudiation of his remark about disrespect. The president had already said on Twitter that Brees should not have bowed to pressure and that everyone should stand when the national anthem is played.

“We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart,” the president wrote. “There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag — NO KNEELING!”

Trump first attacked the N.F.L. over protests during the national anthem in September 2017. During a campaign rally, he called on owners to fire any players who knelt during the anthem, and used a vulgarity to describe quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the movement when he knelt through the previous season to call attention to racial injustice and police brutality. [Continue reading…]