Pittsburgh Steelers left tackle Alejandro Villanueva had the highest-selling jersey in the NFL for 24 hours after he stood during the national anthem Sunday, and on Tuesday ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that he is donating all the proceeds to military charities.
“Steelers’ Alejandro Villanueva is donating all proceeds on his jersey/apparel sales to USO and other military non-profits, as he always has,” the NFL guru tweeted.
Steelers’ Alejandro Villanueva is donating all proceeds on his jersey/apparel sales to USO and other military non-profits, as he always has.
Villanueva was thrust into the middle of the midst of political unrest between the president and the NFL on Sunday when he was the only Steelers player standing with his hand on his heart during the anthem.
The former Army Ranger who toured in Afghanistan later said that hadn’t intended to break with his teammates.
“When everybody sees the image of me by myself, everybody thinks the team, the Steelers, are not behind me, and that’s absolutely wrong,” Villanueva said during the post game press conference. “I made Coach [Mike] Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only. I made my teammates look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only.”
The Steelers were one of several teams who pledged to remain in the locker room ahead of the game in light of President Trump’s comments about NFL players who knelt during the national anthem to protest the treatment of African Americans.
On Monday night, Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys all took a knee before the “MNF” game, before standing while “American Idol” alum Jordin Sparks actually sung the anthem.
Trump inspired a wave of protests over the weekend when he said players who protested during the anthem should be fired at an Alabama Rally. On Saturday, he tweeted “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL,or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU’RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”
On Tuesday, ESPN highlighted Villanueva’s Regular Joe lifestyle compared to other more opulent NFL stars, from carpooling to work and driving a Ford F-150 with 140,000 on the clock, to his fallback plan of becoming a business student at Carnegie Mellon in downtown Pittsburgh if the NFL didn’t work out.
Villanueva also called the transition from military to civilian life “extremely complicated.”
“It’s actually the hardest thing service people do — I’m in the same boat,” he said. “I’m trying to have a successful transition to civilian life. I don’t think I’ve done it yet. It is the No. 1 biggest challenge for veterans in the United States. You go from a completely different world to a completely different universe. … For me to get educated is when I put all the leverage on my side.”
Sports and Politics Don't Mix? History Says Otherwise (Photos)
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos -- who'd taken the gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter dash -- took to the winners podium and raised their fists above their heads in a silent protest against discrimination against African-Americans in the United States. "If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say 'a Negro.' We are black and we are proud of being black," Smith said of the protest.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali famously refused to serve in the U.S. military during the Vietnam war, noting, “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?" In 2005, President George W. Bush awarded Ali the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him "a fierce fighter and a man of peace."
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The boycott would grow to 65 nations who refused to participate in the games.
Four years later, the USSR would return the favor, boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. "Chauvinistic sentiments and anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in this country," the Soviet government said of the boycott, which 13 other communist countries would also join.
At the beginning of the 1995-1996 NBA season, Denver Nuggets point guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf decided that he wouldn't salute the American flag during the playing of the national anthem prior to games. The decision went unnoticed for some time; when NBA commissioner David Stern handed down a one-game suspension to the player. The NBA later reached a compromise, mandating that Abdul-Rauf stand for the anthem, but allowing him to close his eyes and face downward.
In 2014, following the death of Eric Garner after a confrontation with police in New York, Cleveland Cavaliers stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving wore shirts emblazoned with the phrase "I Can't Breathe" -- Garner's reported last words -- while warming up for a game against the Brooklyn Nets. Nets players Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson, Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett also donned the shirts.
In 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted not to stand during the national anthem, saying, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color ... To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
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From Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, a timeline of protesting athletes
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
