Talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said Thursday that "the left has hijacked" the NFL to do "great damage" to the league.
"It used to be a respite," Limbaugh told Sean Hannity on Fox News. "It used to be a place you go to escape all this.
"I do believe that the left wants to cause great damage to the NFL.
"What does the NFL stand for?" Limbaugh asked. "Masculinity, strength, toughness.
"So what are they doing to it? You go to college campuses now, and you'll find classes on how to take masculinity out of men.
"It's actually happening," Limbaugh said. "It's patriotic. You've got the flag. You've got the anthem. You've got uniformed military personnel.
"All the things that the left wants to erase from this country.
"They don't like displays of patriotism, strength, rugged individualism — and that's why I think the players are being used here."
Limbaugh added that the NFL owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell "don't understand what's happening to them.
"They think they're relating to the majority of their fan base," with the protests, he said. "They're not.
"They're driving them away — and I hate it.
"I don't want the NFL to get smaller and become insignificant, be taken over by a bunch of wusses," Limbaugh told Hannity. "I don't want it to be taken over by left-wing social justice causes.
"Use something besides the NFL sideline, the flag — something that people use to escape everything leftist."
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.