GOP governor wants athletes stripped of scholarships if they skip national anthem

Republican Governor Jeff Landry has been hammering Louisiana State University's women's basketball team and their controversial coach, Kim Mulkey, for not being on the court when the national anthem played before their game against Iowa.

Now, the MAGA Louisiana governor is asking universities for a policy that "mandates" college athletes be "present" when the national anthem plays, or risk having their scholarships stripped.

MSNBC's Ja'han Jones explained the "the fabricated controversy that followed Monday night’s NCAA Tournament women's basketball game between Louisiana State University and Iowa University. After conservative social media accounts noticed that LSU’s team wasn’t on the floor for the pregame national anthem, grandstanding right-wingers directed angst-ridden insults and other invective at the team, portraying them as unpatriotic."

Jones notes the Iowa team was "mostly white" and the LSU team was "mostly Black," and said the game "was already fraught with racial tension. So the outrage seemed like an obvious attempt to inflame that tension by framing LSU as rabble-rousing social justice activists, much like conservatives did with Colin Kaepernick years ago. Some people online accused LSU’s team of 'wokeness,' a hilariously absurd claim to anyone who knows anything about LSU’s conservative coach Kim Mulkey."

Governor Landry, who has a history of attempting to intervene in university programs, launched a highly-criticized attack.

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"My mother coached women’s high school basketball during the height of desegregation, no one has a greater respect for the sport and for Coach Mulkey," he wrote on Tuesday. "However, above respect for that game is a deeper respect for those that serve to protect us and unite us under one flag !"

"It is time that all college boards, including Regent, put a policy in place that student athletes be present for the national anthem or risk their athletic scholarship! This is a matter of respect that all collegiate coaches should instill."

Calling it "sheer stupidity," journalist Roland Martin responded to Landry on social media, asking: "What does desegregation have to do with this @JeffLandry? Are you trying to say your momma coached Black girls and that protects you from criticism?"

Many appeared to think the team was somehow off the court protesting, but as the Louisiana Illuminator's Piper Hutchinson reported, "LSU athletes historically remain in the locker room for the anthem."

Hutchinson added, "Mulkey said it was unintentional," and noted the video clip that kicked off the controversy "was shared by far-right account @libsoftiktok."

The tweet by Libs of TikTok, whose creator recently was designated anti-LGBTQ extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center, claimed the team "walked off the court during the National Anthem." It has received 5.1 million views since Monday.

But Fox News' sports website Outkick reported, "LSU players left the court prior to the playing of the anthem and did not return until shortly before pre-game introductions."

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Coach Mulkey told Outkick, "Honestly, I don't even know when the anthem was played."

"We kind of have a routine when [our players are] on the floor, and they come off at the 12-minute mark [prior to the game]."

"I don't know, we come in and we do our pregame stuff. I'm sorry, listen, that's nothing intentionally done."

New Orleans talk radio host Kaare Johnson played Governor Landry's remarks to Fox News then slammed the governor, saying, "it's mind-blowing, the military injections into all of this."

Landry is not backing down.

On Thursday Hutchinson reported, Gov. Landry "has sent letters to all four higher ed systems and the Board of Regents calling on them to adopt policies to strip scholarships from athletes not present during the national anthem."

"By choosing to miss the National Anthem, the basketball team showed a lack of respect not only for the values of our country, but for the individuals who hold these values dear, including LSU Alumni, current students, and fans back home and across the country," Landry's letter reads. "Therefore, I urge the board to create a policy that mandates all student athletes to be present on the field, court, etc., for the National Anthem or risk losing their athletic scholarships."

"A policy like this would ensure that our student athletes and their coaches understand the significance of our anthem and our flag, and work to instill the respect for it within their teams," the governor wrote. "Louisiana State University's roots stem from a military academy, and there should be no question about the university's respect for our country."

With the video above or at this link.

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