Randy Orton Addresses His Controversial Tweets About National Anthem Protests

Randy Orton appeared on Booker T’s Heated Conversations podcast on Saturday night and addressed some of his recent controversial tweets about pro athletes such as NFL player Colin Kaepernick protesting the United States’ national anthem during games. With certain players kneeling during the national anthem or raising a first in response to police violence, Orton questioned the courageousness of their actions.

Sneering? More like shaking my head. Courage? Lol riiiight. Courage. Thats what it takes to stand up and fight, not raise a fist. https://t.co/DqQt11cNmS

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) September 20, 2016

Americans are dying. Pigment of skin doesn't matter. American people matter. https://t.co/MgUbMiPteM

— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) September 21, 2016

Orton spoke with Booker T and co-host Brad Gilmore about his position, elaborating on why he feels it’s so important to respect the national anthem in light of what our troops (and their families) sacrifice. He addressed the backlash he received from his comments, including the people who pointed out his bad conduct discharge from the United States Marine Corps.

“I basically said ‘Americans are dying no matter the color of their skin. Americans are dying.’ I also said ‘courage is what it takes to stand up and fight, not kneel or raise the fist during the National Anthem.’ I got a lot of backlash.

The comment I saw the most was, ‘How can you speak about courage and stand up and fight when you got a bad conduct discharge from the United States Marine Corps. I’d like to address that first off. That was 18 years ago. I was 18 years old, went straight into the United States Marine Corps bootcamp out in San Diego, California. I graduated bootcamp with a meritorious promotion, went on tot he school of infantry where I was a squad leader and a guide. When I went to the fleet, and I’m not here to talk about all the negative things I saw that made me come to this realization, but there were things that I wasn’t happy seeing and wasn’t proud being a part of. What I realized was, I didn’t have the courage to die for my country.

But, knowing that about myself, I saw in many of the other men and women that I was down there with, young men and women, you could see in their eyes that they were of that patriotic spirit where they would put their life on the line for this country. That’s courage right there. Now here we are 18 years later and a lot of these men and women served their country well. Some of them might have lost their lives. Some of them might have come home paralyzed from the waist down, the neck down, amputees, unable to make love to their spouses. Unable to go swimming with their children, unable to walk the dog or take their kids to the park. Depression, different types of mental illness from all the stress they went through. That’s sacrifice right there and the sacrifice that their families gave for them to either die or be brutally hurt for their country, that’s why I think you should stand up for the flag.

Taking a knee, listen, everyone has their right to their opinion and I do believe that. I respect everybody else's opinion. And all these comments I read, I went through them and a few of them I kind of laughed at, but nonetheless, they’re opinions. That’s my stance.”

Booker T asked Randy Orton how he would feel if the reason of the protest was for a different issue, such as veterans not being cared for properly when they return home. Orton said he sympathizes with what Colin Kaepernick was protesting for, but there’s a better way to go about it than disrespecting the National Anthem. Orton says Kaepernick is a superstar and a role model to a lot of kids. If he wants to raise awareness for his issue, do it on social media or in interviews.