*Detroit Lions defensive tackle Akeem Spence tweeted Thursday afternoon that his father was denied a contracting job because of Spence’s protest during the national anthem on Sunday.
Got some awful news from my father a contractor deny giving him a job on doing a house because of my peaceful protest #smh
— Akeem spence (@AkeemSpence) September 28, 2017
Spence was one of eight Lions players who kneeled during the national anthem prior to Detroit’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons. He said the decision to kneel was a group effort among those players and that it was to “stand up for what’s right.”
Spence joined many athletes across the NFL on Sunday who protested during the anthem following critical statements made by Donald Trump, who said players who protest during the anthem should be “fired” by their teams’ owners.
“It’s crazy and it’s wrong, you know. It shouldn’t be like that,” Spence said. “We’re hard-working people who give back to the community. Our owners are the same way, you know, and they have the utmost respect for us and we have the utmost respect for our country, our flag and everything like that. So for our head guy to say something like that about our owners and what they should do, that’s something that I can’t, man, right is right.
“I felt like he was wrong in that sense, and we just came out and acted unity, together and just tried to make a statement.”