Country singer, Meghan Linsey, responded to criticism and even death threats after kneeling after singing the National Anthem on Sunday at the Titans game.
While the Titans and Seahawks stayed in their locker rooms during the National Anthem, Linsey sang the anthem, then took a knee to protest racism, inequality, and police brutality. This came after President Donald Trump's criticism of those who have knelt during the National Anthem.
Linsey wasn't alone in her kneeling. Prior to Sundays game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Detroit Lions, Lions' anthem singer Rico LaVelle took a knee while singing the final line of the Star Spangled Banner.
President Trump initially called for anthem protesters to be fired at a rally Friday in Alabama.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say, `Get that son of a b**** off the field right now. Out! He's fired," Trump said.
The President later tweeted on Sunday that kneeling during the anthem is "not acceptable."
“People that look like me are not doing this," Linsey said. "I think it’s important for white people to step up and say, hey, this stuff's not cool. Racism isn’t okay, police brutality isn’t okay, I love the police force, but there are a few things that have been not cool this year and people are defending, so I think it’s important to speak out."
Lindsey told NewsChannel 5 she decided to do it after seeing the President call for those players to be fired for kneeling during the anthem.
Since Sunday, she has received some positive reaction, and a lot of negative including hate mail, death threats, people telling her they hope she gets cancer - but she says she'd do it the same if she had another chance.
“I think it’s entirely possible to be pro-American still take a stand and peacefully protest, and for me that balance was standing while singing then taking the knee afterwards," Linsey said. "I knew for the audience I was trying to reach, that was going to be the most effective thing, because if I walked out there and just taken a knee, all of those people would have though, oh, she’s disrespecting the military, she doesn't care about our country, and that’s absolutely not true."
Linsey explained that she didn't tell anyone about her decision beforehand and that the Titans organization did not know. After the game, she did not heard any feedback from players or the Titans organization.
