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The claim: Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, ‘If you kneel for the national anthem, you should lose your Olympic medal’
An Aug. 8 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a photo of Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid alongside one of WNBA player Brittney Griner.
“’If you kneel for the national anthem, you should lose your Olympic medal’: Andy Reid Criticizes ‘National Traitors,’” the post’s caption reads.
The post includes a link to an article about Reid’s purported quote.
It was shared more than 7,000 times in 10 days.
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Our rating: False
There is no credible evidence Reid said this about Griner or any other athlete. The article linked in the post is not a credible media outlet.
Griner’s stance on protesting during national anthem has changed
The article linked from the Facebook post claims Reid said in a statement that athletes who have knelt during the U.S. national anthem in protest for racial justice “are representing their personal opinions and interests, definitely not the whole of the USA. They should not be allowed to participate or receive any medals of any kind.”
It further claims his comments started a “heated debate” – but there are no credible news sources or reactions online that corroborate the story or the supposed response.
The Facebook page that made the claim, called Top News, describes itself in its bio as a news and media site. But the link in its bio is unrelated to any media stories and leads instead to a website about contests.
The website is not reputable, and multiple AI detection tools said the text in the article was likely to be all or nearly all AI-generated.
Fact check: No evidence Andy Reid vowed to leave Chiefs if team boots Butker. That’s satire
The Facebook image suggests Reid was referring to Griner, who won a gold medal along with her teammates in the Paris Olympics. But there is no evidence of Reid ever speaking about Griner’s stance, and the attached article makes no mention of Griner.
Griner protested during the national anthem at WNBA games in 2020 after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. Griner generally protested by not standing on the game floor while the anthem played.
She said her perspective changed after she was imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months in 2022 for having vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. After being detained “literally in a cage” where she could not stand the way she wanted to, she said, hearing the national anthem following the ordeal made her want to stand.
Griner cried while standing during the national anthem at the gold medal ceremony in Paris in August.
Reid has been at the center of other false claims USA TODAY has debunked, including assertions that he vowed to leave the Chiefs if kicker Harrison Butker was released due to Butker’s comments on women and that he told the Chiefs team to kneel during the national anthem.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
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