NFL KNEELING SAGA: Brockton Public Official In Trouble Over Racially-Tinged Social Media Comments

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2017/09/27/nfl-kneeling-saga-brockton-public-official-in-trouble-over-racially-tinged-social-media-comments/

Daily Caller News Foundation

By Gabrielle Okun

A local Massachusetts public official  resigned after calling NFL players who kneeled during the national anthem Sunday “turds” and ordering them to “dance monkey dance,” according to MassLive.

A commissioner for the Parks and Recreation Department in Brockton, Stephen Pina, commented on a news story about 17 New England Patriots players refusing to stand while the national anthem.

“Turds, your dumbass isn’t paid to think about politics…dance monkey dance,” he wrote, reports The Brockton Enterprise.

Brockton said it was “not meant to be a racist comment” even though a large majority of the kneeling players are black. He said if it was interpreted as such, then he regrets it. Many football fans ready to watch their teams compete at the various stadiums across the country booed the players who were protesting.

Pina told the Brockton Enterprise that he is a veteran who respects the American flag and thinks everyone, including professional athletes, should too. He added that he “may have been caught up” in the clamorous reaction following the NFL players’ protest. “I got sucked into the whole social media paradigm,” he said.

Pina isn’t the only public official in the state to get himself into trouble for comments made on social media. Joseph Glynn, a member of the Yarmouth Housing authority, announced his resignation Monday after a racially-tinged Facebook rant Sunday. Glynn said he “was physically ill” when he witnessed the players protesting the national anthem, according to The Cape Cod Times. Glynn is also a veteran, and reportedly unloaded his anger using epithets, including ones regarding Jewish, gay, and black people. (RELATED: School Fires Teacher After Facebook Posts Compare Michelle Obama To Gorilla)

Glynn reportedly resigned without being asked, reports The Cape Cod Times. He justified his vitriolic language (what exactly was said is not known), by arguing it was a way to show people that he was also offended by the athlete’s actions.