Heres my thing. Not a defense of meyers leonard but more of a support of free speech. Hear me out .
noone on this board knows meyers leonard. Noone here has ever sat down with him or heard a conversation without a camera in front of him.
Could he be a bad dude ? yeah maybe. Could he have racist thoughts? Sure. So can the pakistani deli owner. Or the chinese food delivery guy. Or the hispanic mechanic. We are all free to personal belief- whatever they are. It is when these ideas form in a hateful / malicious manner that it becomes a problem.
him standing up during the anthem - and the reason he stated - was for his brother. He is free to do that. Agree with it ? Nah i dont think so. Maybe the statement they were trying to get across is bigger than himself and he should ponder( and according to reports, did agonize) his decision. But he has the right to do whatever he pleases. What means more to his life ? His brother or his teammates who wont pass him the ball? easy to say “ hey shut up and just do what everyone else is doing” . fact - he showed us his colors instead of hide .
so when i say that it might as well be a massage therapist , what i mean is that it SHOULDNT matter what one individual says or thinks. The battle for equality probably wont be won in a witchhunt for every individual who utters a derogatory term. i just think this current form of digesting every single thing a public figure does or says is toxic and frankly stupid lol