From the October 3 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Fox Contributor Attacks NBA Player Joakim Noah For His Anti-War Stance: “It’s Mind-Blowing”
Pete Hegseth: “Did He Learn About The Revolutionary War Or Maybe The Civil War That Freed Slaves Or Maybe World War II?”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published
Video file
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Here we go again, another professional athlete taking a stand against the brave men and women who serve our country and have served our country. This time, New York Knicks new center, Joakim Noah, opting to skip a dinner at West Point because of his anti-war stance. How does this offensive act impact those who ultimately sacrifice, including our next leaders who go to West Point? Here to answer that question, Fox News contributor and Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran Pete Hegseth. Pete, your reaction to the anti-war basketball player.
PETE HEGSETH: Joakim Noah said he's sad. He's sad because kids have to go to war. He's sad because war exists. So he's not willing to sit down, go have dinner with a colonel, Iraq war vet, and a bunch of cadets, and hear their side of the story. These guys are always all about dialogue and conversation. Well then go have a dialogue. Go have a conversation. If he's wants to be sad, he can go to his hotel room and be sad after this tough meeting he's about to have. It's amazing to me how disconnected he and others like him are from the reality of the umbrella that these guys provide of security and safety to play a game.
KILMEADE: We would not even have a country if we didn't have brave men and now women who are willing to fight a war. He says this: “I have a lot of respect for the kids who are out there fighting, but it's hard for me to understand why we have to go to war, why kids have to kill kids around the world. So I have mixed feelings about being there.” What bubble was he born in?
HEGSETH: And who gave him a degree? He went to the University of Florida, right? Did he take a history course? Did he learn about the Revolutionary War or maybe the Civil War that freed slaves or maybe World War II, where we fought for our very existence. It's mind-blowing. I had a basketball coach, John Thompson, Jr. at Princeton. He sat us down at the bench after 9/11, put flags on our jerseys, and said you play a basketball game. You be grateful because there's some guy in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting for you right now. Appreciate that and understand that. And athletes like this who are making 18 million bucks a year sit back and go, I don't understand it.
KILMEADE: Real quick -- something else happened in London. Again the NFL goes to London and plays a game every year. This year the Colts play the Jaguars, Antonio Cromartie kneels and raises his fist during the USA national anthem in London. Now its global news, he takes a knee. This is a guy with eight kids by seven different women. One of those women says they had to use Google to find out who their dad was, and he thinks America is not being fair to him.
HEGSETH: America has clearly been incredibly unfair to him. This is exactly what we need, terrible athletes conducting foreign policy for us. Hey, you want to do your thing here, I get it, we're having a conversation, even if I disagree with it. Don't go to London, raise your fist at our flag on another country's soil. Again, it's an example, Joakim Noah, Colin Kaepernick, Cromartie -- These guys think they are making a statement, adding to the conversation. They are a distraction from legitimate things we could be talking about if we were willing to sit down with cadets and talk to them, but instead we're sad in our hotel room.
Previously:
Fox's Kilmeade: Colin Kaepernick's Protests Could “Cause Black And White Division”