NFL Player Says Protest Cost Father a Job in His Business
By Jen Krausz
NFL player Akeem Spence said on Twitter that his protest during the national anthem on Sunday cost his father a job opportunity in his Florida concrete business.
Spence shared the “awful news” in a tweet Thursday, saying that a contractor decided not to give his father a job “because of my peaceful protest.”
Floyd Spence runs Spence Concrete Contractors in Navarre, Florida, Sporting News reported.
Akeem Spence, a defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions, was among eight Lions players to kneel during the national anthem before Sunday’s game. He said he made the decision after Trump’s comments that the president wanted to see protesters fired.
Spence also has tweeted repeatedly about the protests.
Spence was a free agent who signed with the Lions during the offseason. It is his fifth year with the NFL.
Some Twitter commenters felt the action against Spence’s father was unfair, while others saw it as consequences of the protests.