Matthew Stafford incites passionate Twitter response after kneeling during national anthem

By | November 26, 2020

Matthew Stafford kneeled during national anthem before the Detroit Lions and Houston Texans Thanksgiving Day matchup, leading to Twitter paying attention.

The quarterback, along with Texans’ quarterback Deshaun Watson, were among the NFL players who knelt during the national anthem before the game.

MORE: Kelly Stafford, wife of Lions’ Matthew Stafford, calls Michigan a ‘dictatorship’ in Instagram rant

In September, Stafford kneeled during the national anthem and after the game, explained to reporters why.

“Just felt like it was the right thing at the right time,” Stafford said, via MLive. “Obviously it’s been an amazing offseason just for our team, for a lot of people, something where there’s been great opportunity for growth and learning and understanding, and just felt like it was the right thing for me.”

According to MLive, Stafford also pledged $1.5 million to help promote diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice at the University of Georgia, his alma mater, with $350,000 of that heading to a new social justice program for the athletic department.

Three years ago, when NFL players first started kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, Stafford and his wife were vocal critics against it. Since then, he and his wife have issued a public apology for opposing the protests.

Despite Stafford’s change of heart, some NFL fans were shocked to see the quarterback kneeling on Thanksgiving. 

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