NFL star Drew Brees may be one of the best quarterbacks the game of football has ever seen, but right now, he’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The New Orleans Saints‘ legendary signal-caller is facing controversy after appearing in a video promoting Bring Your Bible To School day on October 3rd. The video was done in partnership with Focus on the Family — a pro-Christian, notoriously anti-LGBT group that supports gay conversion therapy — and that’s where Brees is taking heat.
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You can see the initial video (below), during which the Purdue University alum extols the virtues of living out your faith and bringing your bible to school (?!) to show people that you’re not alone.
Yes, Christians, the persecuted minority of which only 75% of people in the United States are a part…
https://www.facebook.com/focusonthefamily/videos/706558649808342/
That’s definitely a little strange, but the real issue here is the fact that Focus on the Family produced the video.
According to the Human Rights Campaign via Towleroad, there are a whole lot of reasons one maybe would NOT want to align themselves with Focus on the Family (below):
“Focus on the Family opposes same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples. They support gay conversion therapy and believe transgender people are ‘mentally ill’ and ‘suffer from a devastating condition.’ The group also accused anti-bullying groups in schools of promoting homosexuality. Focus on the Family has said the legislation prohibiting anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination must be stopped and believes business owners have the right to discriminate against gay people based on religious beliefs.”
YIKES!!!!
Is that the kind of organization the Saints want their quarterback to rep?? Not very saintly…
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Social media commenters immediately picked up on the parent org behind the otherwise benign video, blasting Brees for his association with the group and calling out the Saints about their QB’s problematic partnerships.
Things got so bad so quickly the football veteran was forced to make a nearly two-minute long apology video about it on Friday afternoon — less than 48 hours before the start of the NFL season. Talk about f**king up and creating a distraction for yourself…
In the video, the 40-year-old QB speaks directly to the camera, at one point saying (below):
“[Bring Your Bible To School Day] is all about being able to live out your faith with confidence. It was as simple as that, so I’m not sure why the negativity spread or why people tried to rope me into certain negativity. I do not support any groups that discriminate or that have their own agendas that are trying to promote inequality. … That’s not what I stand for.”
You can watch Brees’ video (below), which he posted to his official Twitter account:
Hopefully this sets the record straight with who I am and what I stand for. Love, Respect, and Accept ALL. I encourage you not to believe the negativity you read that says differently. It’s simply not true. Have a great day. pic.twitter.com/4RdTahE7EZ
— Drew Brees (@drewbrees) September 5, 2019
Hmmm…
It’s interesting Drew tries to low-key claim he wasn’t aware of Focus on the Family’s stance on gay people, and gay marriage… because hundreds and hundreds of commenters responding to the apology video REALLY don’t buy that excuse!
One huge football fan dropped a memorable response to Brees’ apology video, writing:
“Drew, I just spent over $1000 to fly from New Jersey to come and see you play the Falcons in New Orleans. I’m your biggest fan. I’m also gay. And this is not good enough. I’m devastated. Being anti-LGBT is FOF’s hallmark. They were there to attack us at every turn.”
Well said!!
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And another person chimed in:
“They literally oppose loving, respecting and accepting all. It’s their life mission to exclude LGBTQ. Focus on Family opposes LGBT rights, particularly LGBT adoption and same-sex marriage. You can’t stand for ALL and support FOF. It’s simply not possible. We believe what we see…”
Wow!!! Amen!
In his post-practice media availability on Friday afternoon, Brees further addressed the issue in front of reporters, at one point saying (below):
“It was not promoting any group, certainly not promoting any group that is associated with that type of behavior. I know that there are, unfortunately, Christian organizations out there that are involved in that kind of thing, and to me that is totally against what being Christian is all about. Being Christian is love. It’s forgiveness, it’s respecting all, it’s accepting all.”
That sounds good and all — but this is one of those groups, Drew.
Here’s more video of him getting grilled about the controversial clip (below):
Drew Brees addresses his “National Bring Your Bible To School Day” video that appeared on Focus on The Family platforms.
He said he was not aware of the group’s anti-LGBT views. He says hate goes against everything being a Christian is all about. pic.twitter.com/Jjhexqljo0
— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) September 5, 2019
Well, maybe at least give him credit for facing the issue head-on and being willing to talk about it publicly, but he really should have seen this blitz was coming.
Brees can try to spin this saying he didn’t know, but it’s hopefully now been made very clear to him that any alignment with Focus on the Family, no matter how loose, is a non-starter for the LGBT community. The question is: has Brees learned the lesson, or did he just get that super-quick apology out there to make himself feel better about his earlier error in judgment??
Share your thoughts about this whole situation in the comments (below), Perezcious readers! We’d love to know where you stand on this whole controversy…
[Image via WENN/Twitter/Focus On The Family]
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