During an appearance on Fox News Monday, former NFL player Jack Brewer slammed what he called “garbage” behavior of Olympian Gwen Berry, who turned her back on the American flag during the National Anthem while standing on the podium. He later added that she should be “barred from the competition.”
“Her uniform says ‘America,’” Brewer told Fox and Friends’ Brian Kilmeade. “She’s representing America, and the U.S. Olympic Committee needs to do something about this garbage. But what really saddens me is that we have a culture — and it’s growing — a culture of people who disrespect our nation, disrespect our flag and disrespect our anthem. It shouldn’t be allowed.”
“Look back and think about greats like Jesse Owens who overcame real racism. And overcame all the real issues that came along with that, who was a grandson of a slave, who was the son of a sharecropper. He stood on the podium and proudly represented this nation,” he continued. “And she claims to be standing up against racism, well I have news for [Berry]: there are a lot more that came before her that went through real racism and the only reason they got through it is because they live in America.”
Brewer went on to say that the United States Constitution gives Americans the ability “to go after our freedoms and become whoever we want to become,” adding that he believes athletes and American youth need to be educated because they are being “indoctrinated in our schools, being indoctrinated in our liberal media, that are starting to hate this country.”
“We have a massive divide and it’s not because of President Trump, it’s not because of conservatives, it’s not because of the patriots in America – it’s because of this leftist mentality that doesn’t appreciate what this country has done for them, allowing them the freedoms to be able to go out and participate in sports like this,” Brewer said. “As a black woman, so many black women have gone through so much to even be able to get in this situation. She’s being completely disrespectful for all of those that have died for us. And I’m just sick and tired of seeing it.”
Berry responded to the backlash Monday, tweeting that she never said she “hated this country.”
“Thank you! I never said I hated this country! People try to put words in my mouth but they can’t. That’s why I speak out. I LOVE MY PEOPLE,” she wrote along with a black fist emoji.
When asked about her comments on Twitter, Brewer said it didn’t matter and that Olympic officials “should bar her from competition at this point.”
“When you become a member of a team, you cannot go out and protest against a team that you’ve become a member of,” Brewer said. “It just makes no sense at all no matter what sport you’re in, whether it’s the National Football League, or baseball, any sport. Just the fact that we’re having this conversation is ridiculous.”
“[The International Olympic Committee] needs to do something that has some real repercussions,” he added.
Brewer said the team has a lot to celebrate in terms of talent, but it needs to set a better example for American children who look up to these athletes.
“We have a spiritual battle going on right now in this nation. We have forces of evil dividing us with critical race theory and all of these hate messages going out. We need to stop it and the Olympics is the time for unity and that’s the only thing that it needs to represent in the name of Jesus.”
