U.S. Olympian Gwen Berry felt that the playing of the National Anthem at the Olympic track and field trials on Saturday was “disrespectful” to …
U.S. Olympian Gwen Berry felt that the playing of the National Anthem at the Olympic track and field trials on Saturday was “disrespectful” to her. Multiple GOP lawmakers and military veterans have since called for her to be removed from the Olympic team, citing that the sole purpose of an Olympic athlete is to represent their country under the flag. “I don’t think it’s too much, when athletes are competing to wear the Stars and Stripes — to compete under the Stars and Stripes in the Olympics — for them to simply honor that flag and our anthem on the medal stand,” Sen. Tom Cotton said on Fox News on Monday. “If Ms. Berry is so embarrassed by America, then there’s no reason she needs to compete for our country. She should be removed from the Olympic team.” Former NFL player Jack Brewer has been an outspoken critic of players protesting the anthem, and made his opinion clear in a conversation with The Daily Wire. “I just think about growing up as a kid and literally just in school, when you hear the National Anthem, the feeling that it gives you and the respect that you have,” Brewer said when asked about Berry’s move to turn her back to the flag. “The flag is not supposed to represent perfection, but the flag is the family — the American family — the country that we share. Everyone is trying to work for the same goal. That’s what your country represents. That’s like walking into your house and slapping your mom. It makes no sense. I don’t understand it.” “And now, we have a culture that is literally professing to these kids and teaching these kids that their country is inherently bad… not to respect the national Anthem and the flag.
