Zach Ertz called out Fox News on Twitter for using a photo of him praying with his teammates — but labeling it as an anthem protest.
In the latest episode of President Trump vs. The NFL, the president disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a White House visit because of what the president claimed was the Eagles’ history of “disrespectful” protests. Fox News chimed in with a report on the story, supplemented with images of Eagles players. There was just one problem: the Fox News report painted a highly inaccurate picture of the Eagles, presenting prayer as protest.
Fox News began its report by showing an image of several Eagles players kneeling in the end zone; the images of players kneeling during the anthem helped stoke anti-protest rage last season:
But Fox News’s report had a major problem: the players it depicted were kneeling in prayer, not protest. Tight end Zach Ertz, one of the players, took to Twitter to blast Fox News for its inaccuracy:
“This can’t be serious,” Ertz wrote. “Praying before games with my teammates, well before the anthem, is being used for your propaganda?! Just sad, I feel like you guys should have to be better than this…”
No players on the Eagles knelt or remained in the locker room during the 2017 season or the playoffs, despite what the president implied in his tweet rescinding the Eagles’ invitation:
The term “fake news” gets thrown around an awful lot, often by people who use it to discredit factual news reports that paint them in an unflattering light. But when Fox News shows images of players kneeling in prayer, and tries to pass off prayer as “protest,” that’s the very definition of fake news.
____ Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook .
