Radio talk show host Laura Ingraham and Fox News Channel host Greta Van Susteren said the hands-up protest by five members of the St. Louis Rams on Sunday was inappropriate and that the team should stick to playing football.
"I don’t know about you, but when I watch football, I want to watch football," Van Susteren said Monday on her program,
"On the Record."
"I don’t want to watch someone’s political agenda shoved down my throat, whether I’m in agreement with it or not."
She also noted that she didn’t see any players protesting against former Baltimore Raven Ray Rice, who was suspended by the NFL after admitting to knocking his then-fiancee unconscious in an elevator earlier this year.
Ingraham added, "I didn’t care for it because it’s also not based on any facts," since evidence presented to the St. Louis County grand jury in the Darren Wilson case showed that Michael Brown did not have his hands raised in surrender when he was shot dead as was initially reported.
The "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" protests in Ferguson, Missouri and across the country are tied to early reports that Brown was shot while raising his hands in surrender.
Ingraham said players have a legal right to speak out but advised them to "Shut up and play."
The line is a take on her best-selling book,
"Shut Up and Sing," aimed at the political positioning of people in the entertainment business.
Earlier Monday, MSNBC host
Joe Scarborough voiced similar sentiment, saying the Rams protest was the "final straw" for him. He said Ferguson protesters are ignoring evidence that Wilson shot the 18-year-old Brown only after he was being charged at.
"In this case, if my child or your child knocked over a convenience store, and then went down the middle of the street shouting profanities at a police officer — let's just say in Staten Island, in Queens — and then went into the car and started punching the police officer and grabbing for his gun, he'd probably be shot in the car," Scarborough said.