Michael Strahan, whose father is a retired Major who served in the 82nd Airborne, refused to place his hand on his heart at a Fox Sports salute to Veterans aired Sunday.
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Fox does this every year on the Sunday before Veteran’s Day, and this year, the salute took place on a Navy ship manned with active-duty sailors. As the national anthem played, sailors saluted, and civilians faced the flag with their hands over their hearts as prescribed, except for Strahan. He stood with his hands clasped, looking rather angry.
WOW! @MichaelStrahan refuses to honor the flag during the national anthem on a Navy ship while everyone else shows respect. Disgraceful. If he can’t stand with our country, he doesn’t deserve our respect. @NFLonFOX https://t.co/4776adTRdQ
— U.S. Air Force Academy Dad (@USAFA_Dad) November 10, 2024
Strahan’s move sparked anger among NFL fans and many veterans for obvious reasons. Strahan decided to make a political statement about his disgust with our country on a day dedicated to saluting our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, whether active duty or retired.
To be clear, Strahan insists that he is not protesting veterans–he describes himself as an Army brat and put out an Instagram post saluting veterans. But there is no doubt that he was protesting America at the ceremony. He has said in the past that if he were still a football player, he would take a knee alongside Colin Kaepernick to protest America.
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If Michael Strahan was still playing football, he believes that he would join in the take a knee protests.
The former NFL star, 46, talked about the movement on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week. When DeGeneres asked if he would kneel, Strahan replied, “I think I would have. I would have had a conversation with my father… and based on that conversation, and conversations I’ve had with him, I’m pretty sure I would have.”
Strahan and DeGeneres’ conversation was prompted by Nike’s new ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick made headlines in August 2016 by kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality, ultimately sparking a nationwide debate.
Taking a knee on a football field is offensive enough, not the least, because it brushes the line of the NFL itself, endorsing the message that Kaepernick was wearing an NFL uniform at an NFL game. Kaepernick is free to have his opinions and express them as he will, but doing so as a representative of a team on the field was rightly seen as a bridge too far.
Michael Strahan can’t respect his country/military men & women he’s surrounded by on this ship by simply putting his hand over his heart, but he’s happy to encourage child drag queens…
Sickening. pic.twitter.com/jzL1l5Qxc8
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) November 11, 2024
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Strahan, too, is welcome to believe and express what he will, but doing so at a Fox ceremony broadcast on TV surrounded by sailors to celebrate their contributions is a bridge too far. He should be fired, not for his opinions, but for how, when, and where he expressed them. He did so as a representative of Fox, not as a private citizen, and offended millions of fans.
Does Fox approve of this? I suspect not, both because it contradicted the spirit of the event and was, if nothing else, bad for business.
I am not a fan of cancel culture, and I wouldn’t want Strahan fired for his opinions or his expressing them as a private citizen. But I feel perfectly fine pressuring Fox Sports to punish or fire him for using their platform to kick his fellow citizens in the nuts.
It’s time to make Fox Sports put up or shut up. You can’t promote yourself as the patriotic network and tolerate somebody using your platform to insult the nation.
