Obama defends Kaepernick exercising his constitutional right to not stand for anthem
President Obama on Monday weighed in on the Colin Kaepernick controversy and said that the athlete had every right to not stand during the national anthem as a protest against police violence.
“He’s exercising his constitutional right to make a statement,” Obama said. “There’s a long history of sports figures doing so.”
Obama did hedge a bit in his support for Kaepernick, however, and said that the way the quarterback was making his protest might isolate some of the people whom he’s trying to reach with his message.