Nebraska Regent Calls For Kneeling Players To Be Kicked Off Team, Then Tries To Deny It

Nebraska player Michael Rose-Ivey held a press conference yesterday and discussed the litany of slurs, threats, and condemnations he and two of his teammates had heard from fans after they kneeled during the national anthem before the Huskers’ game this weekend. Unsurprisingly, there are higher-ups involved who feel that Rose-Ivey and his colleagues were the truly “disrespectful” ones.

Governor Pete Ricketts called the protests “disgraceful and disrespectful” in his radio show, but has yet to respond to Rose-Ivey’s request for a debate. Hal Daub, former Omaha mayor and U.S. Congressman, is a regent at the university and he went a step further, saying that Rose-Ivey, Mohamed Barry, and DaiShon Neal should all be kicked off the team. Daub spoke to the , and would you believe it, he’s mad:

Earlier Tuesday, an NU regent said Huskers Michael Rose-Ivey, DaiShon Neal and Mohamed Barry, the three players who chose to kneel as the national anthem was performed Saturday at Northwestern, demonstrated “poor judgment” and offensive behavior.

Regent Hal Daub of Omaha, who served two years in Korea during the Vietnam War-era, and a former Omaha mayor, said that student-athletes at NU “are not supposed to do things that create disparagement or negative implications.”

“It’s a free country,” Daub told the Journal Star on Tuesday. “They don’t have to play football for the university either.

“They know better, and they had better be kicked off the team.”

Ah, the good ole “If you don’t like racism, you can always leave!!!” argument.

“They won’t take the risk to exhibit their free speech in a way that places their circumstance in jeopardy, so let them get out of uniform and do their protesting on somebody else’s nickel,” he said.

“Those publicity seeking athletes ought to rethink the forum in which they chose to issue their personal views at the expense of everyone else.”

It’s worth pointing out that other members of the Nebraska hierarchy have been supportive of the protests. Another regent said that he, “[applauds] what they did.” The university’s president himself said that he “completely opposes” hampering the players’ ability to protest how they want. After the Journal Star published their initial article on the matter, Daub apparently called them and tried to tell them he never said a thing he clearly said.

Daub later denied saying that the players should be removed from the team in a phone call to the Journal Star, but stood by his other comments on the players.

I dunno, lying seems to be pretty disrespectful to me.

[ Lincoln Journal Star]