Every Sunday for decades, the ritual has been the same. The anthem plays, the crowd rises, and the players line up along the sideline. For Terry Bradshaw, who spent 14 seasons on that line as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback, standing was never a question.
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Then, in 2016, Colin Kaepernick sat, then knelt, and the ritual became a referendum. Teammates, owners, commentators, and presidents all weighed in. Bradshaw, one of the most talkative figures in football, has said little in recent years, until now.
“You do what you want to on that sideline. If you don’t want to stand for the national anthem, that’s your business. That’s not my business,” Bradshaw said on The Rich Roll Podcast. “I’m standing because I choose to honor our flag and our anthem. If you don’t want, do what you want to do. Do what makes you comfortable.”
“You’re your own man, your own woman… I’m not going to judge you. That’s not my job in this life… Colin can do what Colin feels comfortable doing, and I respect him for it because it’s his decision. It’s not my decision,” he added.
Kaepernick’s protest began in August 2016, when he quietly sat on the bench during the national anthem in the first three preseason games.
No one noticed at first, but on August 26, 2016, a photo emerged of Kaepernick sitting on the bench during the anthem before the 49ers’ game against the Green Bay Packers. It became a national controversy when he refused to stand. Kaepernick said he was protesting the oppression of Black people and people of color in the United States, and he and his supporters linked the protest to police violence.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football,” Kaepernick said.
Critics, including some political figures and commentators, said it disrespected the flag and the military.
Less than a week later, on September 1, after consulting with Retired Army Green Beret Nate Boyer, he shifted to kneeling to maintain his message while showing respect to military personnel.
The protest came at a cost to his career. Following the 2016 season, he became a free agent. He was completely bypassed by all 32 NFL teams. Kaepernick even filed a collusion grievance against the league, which resulted in a confidential settlement in 2019.
Bradshaw was co-hosting FOX NFL Sunday during the height of the controversy in 2016. When he made a guest appearance on FOX News’ Fox & Friends, he was asked about the protests across the league and said that those who protest are disrespecting the flag and the anthem.
“I do have a problem when people in this country don’t respect our flag and national anthem,” Bradshaw said. “All you got to do is look around, this country’s getting worse and worse and more and more immoral, and we’re rotting from within.”
The comment addressed the league-wide protests in general. Bradshaw did not name Kaepernick in it.
Bradshaw’s primary concern was the platform used, not the players’ right to speak out. In 2017, after political figures criticized the protests, Bradshaw defended the players’ right to speak out.
“This is America. If our country stands for anything, folks, it’s freedom. People died for that freedom. I’m not sure if our President understands those rights,” Bradshaw said in 2017. “That every American has the right to speak out also to protest. Believe me, these athletes do love our this great country of ours.”
In the recent discussion on The Rich Roll Podcast as well, Bradshaw repeated that every individual is free to choose, as Kaepernick did.