Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe is furious with New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and is even calling for him to retire due to the fact that he dared to say that he does not agree with those who kneel during the national anthem.

Fox News reported that Sharpe let loose on Brees on Thursday, calling his apology “meaningless” and saying that he has lost his respect forever. 

“He issued an apology, Skip [Bayless], but it’s meaningless because the guys know he spoke his heart the very first time around,” Sharpe said during the Fox Sports 1 show. “I don’t know what Drew’s going to do, but he probably should just go ahead and retire now. He will never be the same.”

Sharpe, who played in the NFL for 14 years, went on to add that Brees’ teammates “will never look at him the same because he spoke his heart.”

“It wasn’t what he said, it was how he said it,” he continued. “He was defiant. I will never respect the man.” This came after Brees told Yahoo Finance on Wednesday that he will never agree with players kneeling during the national anthem because he comes from a military family. 

“Let me just tell what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States,” Brees said. “I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corp. Both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place.”

“So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that’s what I think about,” he added. “And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed.” 

Brees has since been hit with tons of backlash for his comments and apologized profusely multiple times, saying that his comments were “insensitive and completely missed the mark on what we are facing right now as a country.” On Friday morning, he posted a video to Instagram in which he apologized once again.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBCIljGngKI/

There is nothing wrong with the comments that Brees made about the national anthem, so it’s absolutely ridiculous that Sharpe is now blasting him for what he said in this way.

It’s sad that we’ve fallen so far as a nation that simply defending our anthem and our flag is so controversial that it’s something over which you can lose your job and livelihood.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on June 5, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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