Source: Ezra Shaw / Getty
That *Stephen A.Smith voice* baaaaaaddd man Aaron Rodgers just made a case for him being the best QB in the NFL even stronger. In a recent interview, the Green Bay Packers star QB sided with LeBron James over 45 and made it entirely clear what his fellow NFL players were kneeling in protest for— and it has nothing to do with disrespecting the flag or troops.
Aaron Rodgers is woke and down for the cause, but we already knew that. He made it even more evident when he stated in an interview with NFL.com that when it comes to professional athletes taking stands on societal issues, he is all for it. He also expressed that he stands with LeBron James after President Trump dared to question both his and CNN reporter Don Lemon’s intelligence in a Tweet on August 3.
In the interview, Rodgers stated, James “knows he has the support of his contemporaries, in his own sport and in other sports,” and when it came to LeBron paying Trump any mind and not responding to it was “absolutely beautiful.” James really didn’t have to because his NBA brethren, other athletes, and sports analyst had his back. Donovan Mitchell, Jared Dudley, Bradley Beal and Karl-Anthony Towns to name a few all sounded off on the divider-in-chief after his uncalled for a tweet.
In a recent interview with Hip-Hop Wired, Towns broke down why he chose to call out the President and not letting his tweet slide, stating, “I couldn’t, this is a brotherhood. To be part of that NBA brotherhood is a true honor and a blessing and it’s a privilege. It can be taken away at any time. But at the end of the day, there’s no man, no woman, that’s going to be able to… especially him [Donald Trump]… come in and attack one of my brothers without me defending him. And for you to call a man like LeBron mostly stupid is unacceptable.”
“First of all, cause he’s my brother, and second, for it to be such a blatant lie, and to disregard and degrade himself as a man, one, and try to degrade and stain all the great things he’s been able to accomplish for his community. Think about it… the man is blessing families, and their kids for generations to come, with the chance of having a proper education, and a chance at improving their lives. I’m not going to have someone like that stain or degrade what he’s been able to do for his hometown,” he continued.
As for the giant elephant in the room when it comes to the NFL and that is the “kneeling protest” Rodgers basically shut down the argument that it disrespects the flag and troops. When speaking on it, Rodgers says the protests are about “equality and something bigger than ourselves … and social justice,” and that they should “not take away from what the real issue is.”
Rodgers also feels that his NFL brethren should take a page out of the book of King James and not respond to President Trump’s jabs calling them unpatriotic.
“I think that the more that we give credence to stuff like that, the more it’s gonna live on,” he said. “I think if we can learn to ignore or not respond to stuff like that — if we can — it takes away the power of statements like that.”
It’s good to see one of the league’s biggest white stars take a stand on the right side while many of them have been deafeningly silent.
