Rep. Brian Mast criticized GQ Magazine's selection of Colin Kaepernick as its "Citizen of the Year," telling "Fox & Friends" on Tuesday that the former NFL player should not be honored for disrespecting the American flag.
Kaepernick "has brought about divisiveness, he's divided us and he's disrespected our flag, something that means so much to so many," said Mast, a Florida Republican who served in the Army for 12 years and lost both his legs to an IED blast.
When Kaepernick was quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers last season, he started a trend among NFL players by refusing to stand for the national anthem as a protest against racial inequality and police brutality.
"He's really stolen one of the greatest moments of Americana in professional sports out of everybody's life," Mast said. "And I don't think that's worthy of praise."
Instead, the congressman said, there were many other people who should be viewed as heroes and role models, citing as one example Rob Jones, a double-amputee Marine veteran who ran a marathon a day for an entire month in order to raise money for wounded veteran charities.
"That's inspiration, that's drawing the best out of people, that's the kind of person you name something after and you honor, not somebody that goes out there and finds a way to divide this country," Mast said.
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