Tom Brady just defied Trump and publicly took a stand for kneeling NFL players

Aside from the daily dose of human right’s violations brought forth by the Trump administration, they’ve also made otherwise innocuous activities extremely unbearable. Twitter, for example, had always been a land of trolls and racism hidden behind anime avatars, but the new 280 character limit in the tiny hands of Donald Trump has made Twitter feuds a common guest in political discourse.

One of the most annoying things Trump’s administration has done is bringing the sport to the forefront of political conversation – football. Colin Kaepernick did an incredible job creating a conversation about police brutality utilizing the huge platform the NFL had given to him, and he and his activism should be celebrated.

Once his actions caught Trump’s attention, though, the unthinkable happened – football entered the world of politics. On a positive note, the otherwise conservative Tom Brady publicly reacted to the ongoing kneeling protests waged by his contemporaries and said he respects “why people are doing what they’re doing.”

“We support what people are going through,” Brady told Winfrey. “I’ve been playing sports long enough. Everyone comes from something different. And I think showing respect for everybody is — you know, in a locker room with a team of guys trying to go in the same direction, you better have that empathy for everybody.”

In fairness to Brady, when more than a dozen of his Patriot teammates elected to kneel during the 2017-18 season, Brady and others elected to lock arms in solidarity with his teammates.

“I just think there’s just great love for my teammates,” Brady said at the time. “I got a lot of love and respect for my teammates and opponents.”

But here is the important part of the interview with Winfrey (and interviews in the past): Brady refuses to comment on Trump’s ever-harshening commentary on the players. Solidarity for a photo op is one thing, but standing for those values when the opinion can be polarizing is the most important.

Watch it here:

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Salvatore Nicholas

Salvatore is a producer, political writer, comedian and LGBTQ activist (in no particular order). He resides in Los Angeles with his two cats and encyclopedic knowledge of Britney's discography.