Famed boxer George Foreman took to Twitter during the Independence Day holiday to tell fans that he is not ashamed to be an American and asked folks to love it and don’t leave.
On Sunday, the U.S. Olympian and heavyweight champ said that he has been asked to stop saying that he loves America.
“For about 54 years, people have ask me not to keep saying ‘I love America’ Well I do and I’m not ashamed. Don’t leave it; Love it. Happy 4th of July,” he wrote.
Foreman’s tweet came on the heels of a firestorm kicked up by Olympic hammer thrower Gwen Berry who turned her back on the national anthem after she medaled in the Olympic trails a week ago. Several days later, Berry insisted that the national anthem was racist and “disrespected” blacks.
Foreman did not say directly whether he was referring to the Berry incident, but Foreman also competed at the Mexico City Summer Games in 1968. He would fight in four Olympics matches, and ultimately won the Gold.
But after getting home from the games, Foreman has said that some people were unhappy that he didn’t emulate Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two other athletes who became infamous that year for raising a radical black power fist during their medal ceremony.
In 2018. Foreman told The Undefeated that the criticism made him an angry man.
“From then on, anyone who came up to me and might say the same thing, they were only seconds away from getting [the glare], man. I carried a chip on my shoulder. It turned into anger. I changed. My face changed into a sword. It was fierce, I wasn’t playin’,” he said.
While he says he loves America, Foreman has also said that he believes that the U.S. has room for protests.
In the 2018 interview, he added, “There always will be a place for protest. Once you find a country that does not have protests, then you just need to get on a boat and go somewhere else.”
“When you don’t have protests, or people making statements, get out. There is a place for those guys,” he said. “But, understandably, I am in love with the national anthem, and wavin’ that flag. I love that stuff. But I also love the fact that I live in a place where my kids tell me some of the most foolish stuff I’ve ever heard [and are permitted to do so]. Sooner or later, if we are the country, we say we are, we can handle it.”
With his tweet over the weekend, clearly George Foreman still loves America.
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