“If it were up to me, I’d say no,” Ditka replied when asked about kneeling. “If you can’t respect our national anthem, get out of the country. This is how I feel. Of course, I’m dated. So I’m just going to say what I feel.”
The X League did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN.
Once known as the Lingerie Football League, it was renamed the Legends Football League in 2013. In 2019, the Legends Football League announced that it would be shut down. The league was once again renamed the Extreme Football League, or “X League”.
The topic has once again come into the spotlight with professional sports resuming play as social unrest continues across the country after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.
“I think there is a way to protest, and there is a way not to protest,” Ditka continued. “You do not protest against the flag, and you do not protest against this country that has given you the opportunity to earn a living, play a sport, you never thought it would happen. Therefore, I do not want to hear all the crap. You want to try it, try it. No you do, it’s fine. “
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 in protest against racial injustice and police brutality.
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