Right-wing media figures have repeatedly attacked athletes in the NFL, NBA, and other sports leagues for speaking out about police brutality, racial injustice, and inequality. Fox News hosts and guests have claimed that athletes are ungrateful and overdramatic, that they “hate your country” for protesting “racism or something,” and that they should just “shut up and dribble.”
Conservativecommentators and guests have also complained that athletes haven’t adequately explained why they’re protesting in the first place. But current and retired professional athletes, student athletes, coaches, sports commentators, and others have explained at length what they are fighting for. Here are over 40 examples: