US President Donald Trump has claimed that his comments on NFL stars kneeling during the US national anthem are "nothing to do with race".
The president urged fans to stop going to games "until players stop disrespecting our flag and country." He also tweeted that any players who do kneel should be fired or suspended.
The anthem protest trend was popularised by former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick. Some 200 individual players, including athletes from every team in the league, took part in some form of anthem protest.
Sports Illustrated writer Robert Klemko joined Off The Ball to discuss the phenomenon.
"This all started around Colin Kaepernick's conversation about police brutality, I think that's something that is being overlooked now," he commented.
Klemko believes that Trump's comments have "boosted" a media narrative which suggests that these actions are meant to disrespect US military members - rather than being a comment on race issues.
When asked to confirm whether he thought players who knelt should be fired, the US president said: "It's very disrespectful to our flag and to our country, so I certainly think the owners should do something about it."
When asked whether he thought his comments were inflaming racial tensions, Mr Trump added: "This has nothing to do with race. I never said anything about race.
"This has nothing to do with race or anything else. This has to do with respect for our country and respect for our flag."
Additional reporting from IRN
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