An NFL star who pioneered “taking a knee” during the performance of the US national anthem at professional football games announced he plans to pursue a “different approach” heading into the 2018 season.
According to ESPN, Eric Reid -who spearheaded the protest alongside teammate Colin Kaepernick in 2016- said during a recent interview that he no longer intends to kneel during the performance of the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’
“I’m not saying I’m going to stop being active because I won’t. I’m just going to consider different ways to be active, different ways to bring awareness to the issues of this country and improve on the issues happening in this country,” said Reid.
“I don’t think it will be in the form of protesting during the anthem. I say ‘during’ because it’s crazy that the narrative changed to we were ‘protesting the anthem,’ and that wasn’t the case. I think we’re going to take a different approach to how we’re going to be active,” he added.
Reid’s comments come more than a week into his search for a contract, with many team owners and officials opting to stay away from “controversial” players after a disastrous 2017 season.