The owners of Cleveland Browns this morning joined a host of other teams around the league in issuing a statement on Donald Trump’s recent and repeated comments calling for players who have protested social injustice and police violence, who he referred to as “sons of bitches,” to be fired.
Attributed to Dee and Jimmy Haslam, the statement calls out the “misguided, uninformed and divisive comments from the President,” and expresses support for the message of unity and awareness espoused by Browns players who have knelt during the national anthem. “We were incredibly moved by the meaningful and powerful dialogue they initiated within our organization,” the owners noted.
Jimmy Haslam donated $100,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee, as did Dee. Pilot Flying J donated $300,000. The statement is in full below.
This article appears in Sep 20-26, 2017.
As incompetent a team owner as Jimmy Haslam has been…….inside the political arena, his family is to Tennessee what the Taft’s have been in Ohio. But this imbroglio has everything to do with the sacred cash cow that is the NFL — and nothing to do with the factional pugilism inside the Republican Party.
PR move. If he were actually supportive of NFL players and understood their movement , he’d revitalize his team and sing Kaepernick.
Agree. It is clear there are no leaders on the team and no inspired or inspiring players. We obviously need a quarterback. The Browns would also benefit from the sales of gear to people outside of Ohio who want to be associated with the team’s courageous actions.