Anthem protests get national exposure on Monday Night Football

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick brought his controversial protest in the name of racial equality to a nationally televised Monday Night Football audience, kneeling on the field rather than standing as the national anthem played.

He was joined on the sidelines by 49ers safety Eric Reid, who knelt beside Kaepernick, while two other teammates, safety Antoine Bethea and linebacker Eli Harold, stood with fists raised during the performance of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

While military personnel unfurled a giant American flag over the field, a number of fans shouted at Kaepernick, “Why don’t you stand up?” according to an ESPN commentator reporting for the Disney-owned sports channel’s broadcast.

At least two players from the opposing team, wide receiver Kenny Britt and defensive end Robert Quinn of the Los Angeles Rams, also held their fists in the air for the opening ceremony.

Several 49ers squad also rallied around the smiling Kaepernick after the anthem to show their support.

Kaepernick, who is African-American, has ignited a furor within the National Football League through an act of defiance he introduced during pre-season games to protest what he has called racial injustice and police brutality.

The gesture, which went largely unnoticed initially, has since been imitated by numerous other NFL players.

On Sunday, Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters, also black, raised his fist during the national anthem for his team’s home-game season opener against the San Diego Chargers.

His action recalled the raised-fist salute by black athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Carlos, now 71, praised Kaepernick, Peters and other NFL players in a Reuters interview on Monday for using their televised platforms as professional athletes to give Americans a “shock treatment.”

Other members of the Chiefs linked arms during Sunday’s anthem, as did the Seattle Seahawks at their home game against the Miami Dolphins. The exact meaning of their gestures was not clear.

Four members of the Dolphins knelt while the “Star-Spangled Banner” played on Sunday. In Thursday’s NFL season opener, Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall had knelt during the anthem.

The protesting players have been seen as allies of the Black Lives Matter movement, which grew in response to a string of high-profile police killings of unarmed black people across the country. About two-thirds of NFL players are black.

The protests also have provoked anger in some fans who see the gesture as disrespectful to the U.S. flag, the military and the nation in general.

President Barack Obama has weighed in on the controversy, saying Kaepernick was exercising a constitutional right and provoking conversation “around some topics that need to be talked about.”

Earlier in the evening, the Washington Redskins hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers. But there no signs of protest were immediately evident during the national anthem there.