A conversation about the NFL protests left Daily Blast Live co-host Al Jackson emotional on Friday as he sounded off on the treatment of veterans in the US.
The hosts' discussion centered around a tweet by President Donald Trump. Trump has tweeted many times about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. In his latest tweet, he implied that the players did not know what they were protesting. "Numerous players, from different teams, wanted to show their 'outrage' at something that most of them are unable to define," he wrote.
Former NFL player Brandon London responded to Trump's tweet on the show, and urged the public to stop focusing on the NFL kneeling policies and the awareness and philanthropy that NFL players have done.
"To flip the narrative is not fair," said London.
"To my NFL brothers, it's time to start shining more light to the activities to the activities that you are doing in our community for this social injustice."
London also admitted he would not kneel during the anthem if he were still playing football today. London's father and grandfather are both veterans. His father, Mike London, was also a police officer and the first black head football coach in University of Virginia history.
"I would stand for the national anthem," said London.
"And if one of my teammates, my brothers, were to take a knee? I'd respect that."
Much of the criticism against NFL players kneeling has been centered around the players' actions being disrespectful of veterans. Responding to London's comments, Al Jackson sounded off on the poor treatment of veterans in the US.
"The people who came home from Vietnam were treated as trash, black and white," said Jackson.
Jackson criticized people who are against the NFL protests that focus on veterans. He also said that while people like to talk about respecting veterans, he thinks very little is done to protect them after they return from serving. The DBL co-host urged viewers to take action, and commented on the lack of mental health support for veterans and the amount of homeless veterans in the US.
"They come here, they have PTSD, they're 19 years old, they've seen their friends' heads blown off and we sit here and we clap our hands and get mad at Malcolm Jenkins," Jackson said.
He also brought up the hypocrisy of those who oppose the NFL protests, bringing up President Trump's comments on senator John McCain, who is a Vietnam War veteran. In an interview with Dan Rather in 1999, Trump said that McCain was not a real war hero because he was captured.
Many on Twitter praised Jackson and Daily Blast Live for the candid conversation.
