Watch John Oliver Blast President Trump for Controversial NFL Speech
John Oliver criticized President Trump Sunday on Last Week Tonight for his controversial remarks calling on NFL owners to fire players who protest during the pre-game national anthem.
Trump, during an Alabama rally on Friday, asked the crowd, “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners when someone disrespects our flag to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now’? Out. He’s fired!”
Oliver fired back, in a reference to a viral photo of then-candidate Trump hugging the American flag during an October rally, “Putting aside the free speech implications there, how is kneeling in front of a flag more disrespectful to it than grinding it against your gnarled old boner?”
The host continued by framing Trump’s comments in the context of Hurricane Maria, which ravaged Puerto Rico last week, and alluding to Colin Kaepernick, the former 49ers quarterback who launched the movement of NFL protest kneeling in protest of police brutality and racism against African Americans.
“The president of the United States took time out while, it is worth noting, over three million American citizens in North America are without power, to call Colin Kaepernick a son of a bitch.” Oliver also highlighted some noteworthy responses to Trump’s NFL rant – including Kaepernick’s mother, Teresa Kaepernick, who tweeted, “Guess that makes me a proud bitch!”
Many more NFL players took a knee in protest on Sunday afternoon, and even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell denounced Trump’s comments. Oliver, a noted Goodell critic, blasted Trump for sinking to a new low: “When you have lost the moral high ground to Roger Fucking Goodell,” he said, “something is horribly wrong.”
Watch below: Trump’s comments, made at an Alabama rally last week, sparked widespread protest in the NFL and beyond.