Friday on “CNN Tonight,” former NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth weighed in on some New England Patriots players skipping out on the White House Super Bowl victory celebration with President Donald Trump.
Stallworth said athletes, as well as actors, are “precisely” who should be leading political discussions, noting former President Ronald Reagan, Al Franken and Trump as television stars who have moved on to politics.
“I’ve always been an advocate for players to speak out on social and political issues,” Stallworth told host Don Lemon. “You know, the funny thing to me is that people always say that athletes and actors should not engage in politics. I mean, Donald Trump was a reality TV star, Ronald Reagan, he was an actor, Al Franken, he was on ‘SNL.'”
“I think these are precisely the people that should be leading political example,” he continued. “These people are people that are role models, and if you look at it, a lot of these athletes have grown up in these types of neighborhoods where they’ve come from the bottom, so they relate more to the average person than some of the politicians who are sponsored by a lot of these corporations and have a lot of money.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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