Comedy Central’s Trevor Noah said of the NFL’s reaction to President Trump’s comments about the ongoing protests around the league, “To the NFL’s credit, they stood up to the Bully in Chief.” Noah noted several NFL owners stood in solidarity with their teams on Sunday, including Jaguars Owner Shahid Khan. Noah said of Khan being on the sidelines arm-in-arm with his players, “Who the hell is that with the mustache? I didn’t know you could make enough money in Vaudeville to buy a football team.” Noah: “It was important that the weekend’s protests included not just the NFL players, but the owners too because when you think about how powerful this is a lot of these owners supported Donald Trump. So you know it hurts his whole crux to see them taking the players side in this standoff” (“The Daily Show,” Comedy Channel, 9/25).
NBC’s
Jimmy Fallon said President Trump “tweeted that players standing with locked arms for the national anthem is okay. Incidentally, people standing with locked arms is also the plan for his border wall. ... Trump said that NFL players shouldn't be allowed to take a knee during the national anthem and that's not all. Trump also released a list of other rule changes he thinks the NFL should make.” Fallon: “Trump's first rule is that someone has to get sacked every five minutes, just like at the White House. ... Then he said the broadcasters for every game have to be the hosts of ‘Fox & Friends. ... When a referee overturns a call, he has to say, ‘The previous play was fake news.’” Fallon: “After Trump disinvited the Golden State Warriors from the White House,
LeBron James called the president a ‘bum’ and said visiting the White House was an honor until Trump showed up. Trump was like, ‘Does our healthcare bill cover burns?’” (
“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 9/25).
TBS’ Conan O’Brien said President Trump “took on the entire National Football League this weekend with his tweets. President Trump is angry at NFL players for their silent protests during the national anthem. ... Trump said silent protests have no place anywhere outside my marriage. ... The national anthem controversy has even caused a rift between President Trump and his longtime friend Tom Brady. Now folks, we should have seen this coming with Brady because whenever anyone that beautiful turns 40, Trump loses interest.” O’Brien: “President Trump has disinvited Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry from visiting the White House. Yeah, because no one likes Steph Curry. He disinvited him, not because of their political differences, because trump believes Curry is from India and got confused” (“Conan,” TBS, 9/26).
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel said Trump stated his comments about NFL protests “have nothing to do with race, and whenever the president says it has nothing do with race, it 100% absolutely has everything to do with race. He called for a fan boycott of the NFL which is interesting because for someone who is so critical of the NFL, you might be surprised to learn Donald Trump tried unsuccessfully to buy the Buffalo Bills a few years ago. He made a bid to buy the team, but they turned him down because they knew that any bills Trump supports never pass” (“Jimmy Kimmel Live,” ABC, 9/25).
CBS’ Stephen Colbert: “Everyone is talking about Donald Trump and the NFL. Are you ready for some racial tension!? For the last year, some NFL players have been kneeling during the national anthem to protest institutional racism. It started with then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. It was a controversial protest. After all, the singing of the national anthem is a sacred time when red-blooded Americans stand up and run to the bathroom because that's when the line is shortest.” Colbert said Trump calling the players “’son of a bitches’ was unnecessary roughness. There should be a flag on that play and I'm going to say a Confederate flag.” Colbert, doing his Trump impersonation, said of the president complaining about football is ruining the game by making it safer, “There’s nothing wrong with brain damage. I mean, look how far I got.” Colbert said of Trump claiming NFL ratings are down because fans rather watch what he’s doing, “He's saying that football ratings are down because fans would rather watch Donald Trump. That's like an inverted Tom Brady: Trump is trying to inflate his own balls.” Colbert noted Trump praised NASCAR for not protesting but NASCAR owners threatened to fire drivers if they kneeled and “there’s only one African-American driver in all of NASCAR and I’m surprised he can get around the track without being pulled over” (“The Late Show,” CBS, 9/25).
