WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Tuesday escalated his comments against the NFL in an ongoing controversy over players who kneel to protest racial injustice, questioning tax breaks for professional football and attacking an ESPN commentator who has been critical of him and the league.
Other Republicans have recently called for the NFL to lose millions in tax incentives as a result of the protest.
He followed it by criticizing ESPN commentator Jemele Hill, by the network for tweets that appeared to advocate that consumers boycott some NFL teams who had threatened to retaliate against their players for protesting if they disagreed with the policy of punishing players.
“With Jemele Hill at the mike, in fact, tanked so badly it is the talk of the industry!” Trump wrote.
This is the second time the White House has criticized Hill, who earlier this year was suspended by ESPN for calling Trump a “white supremacist” on Twitter.
In response, the White House called for her to be fired.
Trump has for weeks , which he has claimed .
On Sunday, Vice President Mike Pence early after some players from the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the anthem.