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Giants' Manager Gabe Kapler No Longer Standing For National Anthem

Source: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty

Gabe Kapler is taking a stand following the Robb Elementary mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. 

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters ahead of Friday’s (May 27) game against the Cincinnati Reds that he will no longer take the field for the national anthem.

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler told the press while speaking from the dugout in Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Gabe Kapler further expounded on his decision to not partake in the US national anthem in a statement shared on his website, where he also spoke on the senseless killing of 19 children and two adults during the Robb Elementary mass shooting by a lone 18-year old shooter.

In the post, Kapler, like many after the shooting, questioned the country’s leadership and wondered if the United States is indeed “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

“We weren’t given bravery, and we aren’t free. The police on the scene put a mother in handcuffs as she begged them to go in and save her children. They blocked parents trying to organize to charge in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter was murdered while he argued with the cops. We aren’t free when politicians decide that the lobbyist and gun industries are more important than our children’s freedom to go to school without needing bulletproof backpacks and active shooter drills,” Kapler passionately wrote.

Further in the post, Kapler pointed to “the lack of delivery of the promise of what our national anthem represents.”

“I am not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t let my discomfort compromise my integrity. I wish that I could have demonstrated what I learned from my dad, that when you’re dissatisfied with your country, you let it be known through protest. The home of the brave should encourage this,” Kapler continued.

Gabe Kapler is the latest notable sports figure to speak out against gun violence. Steve Kerr refused to talk about basketball before Game 4 of the Warriors versus Mavericks Western Conference Finals series. Instead, he called out Senate Republicans in an impassioned speech.

We tip our hats to Gabe Kapler.

Photo: Source: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty