” Were a good city of good individuals. I heard boos too,” he tweeted. “But we also have hundreds of thousands more around here who respect the message the players are sharing; who appreciate the rights of our gamers and individuals to voice a strong message and who are working to make us much better each day.”
Thursday nights game, won 34-20 by the Super Bowl champion Chiefs, kicked off the 101st season of NFL play.
Kansas City is among the couple of teams permitting fans in for video games in the middle of the pandemic. The announced crowd of 15,895 was a little bit more than 20 percent of Arrowhead Stadiums capability of more than 76,000.
” Some NFL fans booing the players for standing and locking arms in a moment of quiet unity shows that for them representing the flag was constantly about perpetuating white supremacy,” the councilman stated in a statement.
Bunchs council coworker Andrea Bough swore that the boos will not slow the fight versus systemic racism.
” And it steels our willpower to continue the battle for justice and versus bigotry here in Kansas City and throughout the Country,” Bough composed in a retweet of actor Vincent DOnofrio, who called the booing a failed “base test.”
Caroline Radnofsky contributed.
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Kansas City Chiefs fans booed players during a minute of silence “dedicated to the ongoing defend equality” on Thursday, throughout the NFLs season opener.
Players on the Chiefs and the Houston Texans collected in the middle of the Arrowhead Stadium field simply ahead of kickoff, linked arms and asked for “a minute of silence committed to the ongoing fight for equality in our nation,” according to an NFL statement, that included the hashtag “It Takes All of United States.”
As Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City coach Andy Reid, Texans QB Deshaun Watson and Houston protective end J.J. Watt took center stage, boos could be plainly heard from significant parts of the almost 16,000 fans in participation.
City Councilman Eric Bunch called the incident “humiliating” and told Chiefs fans to “do much better.”
And Kansas City Star sports writer Vahe Gregorian berated booing fans, whose disapproval rang clear and loud to a nationwide television audience.
” Because with Kansas City in the national spotlight for what is a huge tv audience to release the NFL season in the middle of the turmoil of the pandemic, more than a few voices resonated in nasty, awkward style before the video game,” the sports columnist composed.
” The derision spoke volumes, betraying the city and team in both senses of the word. It broke faith with the players they apparently support only as gladiators, and it exposed anew that an appeal for equality stinks to some even during this terrific awakening and reckoning.”
Mayor Quinton Lucas stated the booing did not represent individuals of Kansas City.