New Orleans Saints Fan Burns Drew Brees Jersey After Controversial Remarks

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees came under fire on Wednesday, June 3, after he was asked about NFL players kneeling during an interview with Yahoo Finance.

Editor Daniel Roberts asked Brees what he thought about players kneeling during the national anthem, a protest of police brutality popularized by Colin Kaepernick, when the NFL season restarts.

Brees said, “I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.”

NBA star LeBron James quickly responded to Brees’ statements on Twitter, saying, “You literally still don’t understand why Kap was kneeling on one knee?? Has absolutely nothing to do with the disrespect of Flag of United States and our soldiers (men and women) who keep our land free. My father-in-law was one of those.”

Brees’ own teammates also vocalized their opinions, including retired Saints wide receiver Marques Colston, who posted, “This ain’t about your ideals – this is about real life.”

On Thursday morning, Brees posted a statement to Instagram, apologizing “to my friends, teammates, the City of New Orleans, the black community, NFL community and anyone I hurt with my comments yesterday.”

This video shows a Facebook Live stream of Chris D Plant Jr, a fan from Baton Rouge, setting his Drew Brees jersey aflame on Wednesday afternoon, June 3. “So you know where I stand,” Plant wrote in the accompanying Facebook post. Credit: Chris D. Plant Jr. via Storyful