The 2020 Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly (ESPY) Awards ceremony featured several athletes speaking out in support of the far-left Black Lives Matter movement, which included several false claims, according to CNN.
Among the athletes who voiced their support for the movement included NFL player Russell Wilson, soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and basketball player Sue Bird. Wilson described the world currently as “a world of hurt, pain, and despair” for minorities, while Bird rhetorically asked “do black lives matter to you when they’re not throwing touchdowns?”
The award ceremony featured videos and images from Black Lives Matter protests, conspicuously excluding footage from the ones that have notoriously turned violent. The three athletes also pointed to examples of prominent minority athletes from the past such as boxer Muhammed Ali, even though his son, Muhammed Ali Jr., recently said that his father would have hated the “racist” Black Lives Matter movement.
In response to the widespread riots, many sports leagues, including the NFL, NASCAR, and U.S. Soccer, have updated their rules to make it permissible for athletes to disrespect the American flag and National Anthem before each event.