Dallas Cowboys Owner Tells President Trump Team Will Stand for National Anthem

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stands on the field prior to Super Bowl LI at NRG Stadium in Houston on Feb. 5, 2017. Tom Pennington/Getty Images

President Trump tweeted that the Dallas Cowboys will stand for the national anthem.

“Spoke to Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys yesterday. Jerry is a winner who knows how to get things done. Players will stand for Country!”

The comments come after a very confusing display on Sunday where Dallas Cowboys players, coaching staff, and even the team owner Jerry Jones put on a show of kneeling before the anthem, and then standing while the anthem played.

Jerry Jones donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, Politico reported. He was previously critical of NFL players who took a knee during the anthem, and was proud no one from his team had yet made the gesture.

Boos from the crowd permeated the University of Phoenix Stadium when the Dallas Cowboys took a knee on Sunday, Sept. 24. Cowboys tight end Jason Witten talked about the pre-game locker room banter and the seemingly conflicting aims of the protest move in comments to ESPN.

“I am going to stand for the national anthem with my hand over my heart until the day I die,” said Witten. “I respect our country and the servicemen that represent our flag. One nation under God with liberty and justice for all. I believe in that. I also can respect and agree to disagree, and that is what the locker room is all about. There are a lot of different ways. That is what is special about this locker room, a lot of different opinions and a lot of different thoughts on it.”

But the NFL is still facing controversy for the trend of kneeling or not coming onto the field during the national anthem, in a move that was led by Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick has still not found a job this season in the NFL. Sports analysts and NFL higher-ups are still debating if this is because of the former 49ers quarterback’s pre-game protests or his play. The protests are also leading to falling NFL ratings, The Epoch Times reported.

To show contrast in the sports world, the president also tweeted a video of recently retired sprinting champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica stopping in the middle of a live interview to show respect to the U.S. national anthem. The anthem came on while a foreign reporter interviewed him at a stadium.

The president accompanied the video with the comments “Even Usain Bolt from Jamaica, one of the greatest runners and athletes of all time, showed RESPECT for our National Anthem!”