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Last night, after the Cowboys lost to the Packers, Jerry Jones commented on the recent controversy surrounding players protesting during the playing of the national anthem. After the Cowboys seemed to find a middle ground previously by kneeling as a team before the anthem then standing with arms locked for the actual playing of the anthem, Jones made clear that any protests during the song would not be tolerated.
"If there's anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play," Jones said after the Cowboys' 35-31 loss to the Green Bay Packers. "Understand? We will not ... if we are disrespecting the flag, then we will not play. Period."
"We as a team are very much on the page together," Jones said. "We made our expression. I'm very supportive of the team, but under no circumstances will the Dallas Cowboys -- I don't care what happens -- under no circumstances will we as an organization, coaches, players, not support and stand and recognize and honor the flag. Period."
"If it comes between the impression or the perception that we're not standing together, supporting each other or the perception that we're disrespecting the flag, the perception that we're not together will be secondary to not respecting the flag," Jones said. "Respecting the flag is first."
No Cowboys player has put this to the test in previous games, the only time they actually acknowledged the protests was previous to the Cardinals game, when they did it as a team.
As an offshoot to Jones’ comments, ESPN host Jemele Hill has been suspended for recent tweets she made in response. Below are two in a long series of tweets she made regarding the situation.
This play always work. Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ's statement, boycott his advertisers. https://t.co/LFXJ9YQe74
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players. https://t.co/Gc48kchkuv
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) October 9, 2017
In response, ESPN has suspended her for two weeks. Here is their statement:
ESPN's Statement on Jemele Hill: pic.twitter.com/JkVoBVz7lv
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) October 9, 2017
We are posting this story for completeness of coverage at BTB. As an issue, this one is particularly divisive, as we have already seen here at BTB. There is no need to rehash it, so we’ll just close the comments. I know this will be an unpopular decision, and I apologize in advance, but it keeps the discussion from devolving into flame wars.