Did viewers really boycott Sunday’s Seahawks game?
Sep 25, 2017, 10:06 AM | Updated: 11:58 am
The Seahawks elected not to participate in the national anthem on Sunday. (File, Associated Press)
(File, Associated Press)
With the Seahawks opting to remain in the locker room Sunday during the national anthem, many people on social media said they would boycott watching the game against the Titans.
So, did they?
RELATED: Seahawks explain decision to not participate in national anthem
KIRO 7 compared the first two Seahawks games this year to Sunday’s game.
The first two games of the year posted a 40.7 household rating. Sunday’s game posted a 34.5, for a decrease of 15 percent.
The ratings were down even more in the ages 25 to 54 demographic, with the first two games posting a 32.7 share in that group. Sunday’s game posted a 24.1 share for a decrease of 26 percent.
Colin Kaepernick was the first to draw attention to not taking a knee during the national anthem. Other players followed, including the Seahawks’ Michael Bennett, saying they were expressing the United States’ unfair treatment of people of color. Some cited racial inequality, others pointed specifically to police brutality.
But the topic exploded when President Donald Trump suggested that National Football League owners should fire players who kneel during the national anthem. And he encouraged spectators to walk out in protest.
“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you’d say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He’s fired,'” Trump said to loud applause Friday night at a rally in Huntsville, Alabama.
His comments continued in the following days on Twitter.
“If NFL fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our Flag & Country, you will see change take place fast. Fire or suspend!” Trump said in a Sunday morning tweet.
After Trump made his remarks, Seattle Seahawks players responded.
“The behavior of the President is unacceptable and needs to be addressed,” Richard Sherman wrote. “If you do not Condemn this divisive Rhetoric you are Condoning it!”
By Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and the Titans, both teams declined to take the field Sunday.
