Sean “Diddy” Combs is admitting that he’s actually pretty happy his past bid to buy the Carolina Panthers fell through, because he’s not exactly a supporter of the new national anthem rule. Per TMZ , the rapper and business mogul made the confession during a new interview on BigBoyTV this week, where he said that he doesn’t even want to own a team anymore because he doesn’t agree that players should be forced to stand for the national anthem before games.
“I don’t even wanna own an NFL team no more,” Diddy said during the interview, claiming that he was actually one of the final two bidders for the Carolina Panthers.
“I don’t want to be associated with oppressing black men,” he then continued while discussing the changes, admitting that he doesn’t agree that players should be told what to do. “I don’t want to be associated with telling grown a** men what they can do and not do.”
Per Daily Mail , he then said that his “feelings were hurt” over the national anthem decision because he’s such a big fan of the NFL.
“I hope they do what they have to do to fix it,” Diddy then continued. “And I hope that they re-engage my dream to want to do that, because if not, I don’t want to be associated, to be around a table that does that to people at all.”
Adding that he would let his players do what they wished during the national anthem if he were the owner of an NFL team, Diddy then called for black athletes to show a united front, calling right now “a defining time.”
As reported by KLEWTV last year, Diddy made it very clear on Twitter back in December that he was interested in becoming an NFL team owner while claiming that there weren’t any African American owners in the football league.
https://twitter.com/Diddy/status/942596768067411969
“I would like to buy the @Panthers. Spread the word. Retweet!” he tweeted last year, urging his followers to get involved to help him to become the owner of the team. “There are no majority African American NFL owner. Let’s make history.”
Diddy’s latest comments claiming he’s not glad he’s not a team owner comes shortly after the NFL announced that players would have to stand for The Star Spangled Banner or should instead remain in the locker room until the end of the song. They can also potentially have to pay a fine if they protest by kneeling rather than standing.
CNN reported that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made the announcement in May, confirming that teams would be making their own rules regarding the penalties for players who refuse to stand.
The protest – which became known as taking the knee – was originally started in 2016 by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who caused some serious controversy and got people talking when he dropped to his knee during the playing of the national anthem.
