Pittsburgh Steelers being fined $1 million for each players for not appearing during the national anthem is fake news. There is no truth to a report that the NFL was fining the Steelers a $1 million per player who failed to show for the national anthem in their game against the Chicago Bears.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin announced ahead of the game with the Chicago Bears that the team would not appear on field. Tomlin made clear that the gesture would not be to protest a particular political cause, but to “remove ourselves from this circumstance,” in light of President Donald Trump’s crusade against players who choose to kneel during the anthem to protest racism.
Now, where did the fake news originate? America’s Last Line of Defense published the story on Sept. 24, 2017, reporting that the Steelers would have to pay $1 million for each player failing to appear during the national anthem. You can read the fake news below.
Donald Trump must have really gotten through to the NFL! After he tweeted on Sunday shaming owners for catering to PC culture while allowing players to disrespect our flag, our country, and our national anthem, everyone fell in line.
The Pittsburgh Steelers thought it would be safe to take “taking a knee” to a whole new level by hiding in the locker room while the National Anthem played and everyone elseABC showed reverence for OUR country but they didn’t count on it being extremely costly. reports that:
The entire Pittsburgh Steelers team did not participate in the national anthem ceremony prior to their game with the Chicago Bears this afternoon.
As the “Star-Spangled Banner” played at Soldier Field in Chicago at the start of the game at noon local time, the Steelers’ sideline was virtually empty.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told a CBS Sports reporter that his team would stay in the locker room during the anthem.
“We’re not participating in the anthem today,” Tomlin said, adding that the action was “not to be disrespectful to the anthem” but to remove the team “from this circumstance.”
“People shouldn’t have to choose” whether to kneel or stand during the anthem, he said. “If a guy feels a need to do something he should not be separated from his teammate who chooses not to.”
“So we’re not participating today,” he said. “That’s our decision.”
The fake news article then links to a (real) ABC report about Steelers players not coming out for the national anthem during a game. The story then continued with some more false information.
It was a bad decision. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who donated to Donald Trump’s election campaign, announced shortly after the game began that every player who “protested” the National Anthem and showed “immense disrespect to our nation” would be fined a cool million dollars.
Here are some examples of people sharing the fake news on social media.
BREAKING: NFL Fines Pittsburgh Steelers $1m Each For Skipping National Anthem https://t.co/Mylw2NtBCJ
— R. Wolfe (@WhoWolfe) September 24, 2017
— Anonymous (@BlueGhostHD) September 24, 2017
— Elegantly Wasted 🍷♪ (@dnvrsangel) September 24, 2017
— Coach Terry Gold (@TGDACOACH) September 24, 2017
NFL fines Pittsburgh Steelers 1 Million each for skipping Athem
— Michael C Callaway (@Cals5C) September 24, 2017
Last Line of Defense is a web site known to publish only fabricated news. Last Line of Defense’s carries a disclaimer that states the following:
DISCLAIMER: America’s Last Line of Defense is a satirical publication that uses the imagination of liberals to expose the extreme bigotry and hate and subsequent blind gullibility that festers in right-wing nutjobs. We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist. Names that represent actual people and places are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and do not in any way depict reality.
What did you think of the fake news that the Steelers franchise was being forced to pay $1 million per player for failing to appear during the national anthem? Did you believe it or see people sharing it falsely on social media? Let us know in the comments section.
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