East Carolina Radio Affiliate Pulls Game After Band's National Anthem Protest

The radio affiliate for the East Carolina Pirates football team will not broadcast this Saturday's showdown against South Florida after several members of the school band protested the national anthem before last week's game.

Per a statement on Facebook from Colonial Media and Entertainment CEO Jeff Andrulonis, the decision not to broadcast the matchup against South Florida came about because the band members "disgraced" themselves:

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Several members of the band refused to play the national anthem and others "took a knee" during the performance, with the result that roughly a dozen band members disgraced themselves on the football field this past weekend. I’m proud of our country, and I’m proud of our soldiers — especially our soldiers from Fort Bragg — fighting for our country so I’ve decided that ESPN Fayetteville will "protest the protest." I talked with some of our East Carolina football sponsors yesterday and will be talking with more of them today. So far, it has been unanimous. Every sponsor I’ve talked to agrees that last weekend’s spectacle at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was shameful, and a message needs to be sent.

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Andrulonis went on to attack the members of the band who protested, saying they could have chosen to quietly protest in the hours before the game, "but that would have required them to wake up early." He added these are "college students and it’s about time they get an education on the concept that their actions have consequences."

ECU grad Michael Aho captured an image of some band members taking a knee during the national anthem before the Pirates hosted Central Florida:

The entire band was booed during the halftime show as a result of the silent protest before the game, via Pirate Radio 1250:

Later that same day, per Michael Prunka of the Washington Daily News, East Carolina Chancellor Cecil Staton issued a statement saying the university respected the students' rights to express their own views and asked for fellow students, supporters and participants "to act with respect for each other's views."

It's been more than one month since San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick began his silent protest of kneeling during the national anthem to protest various racial injustices, with more athletes and citizens joining in each week.

The statement from Andrulonis concludes by saying after "taking a knee" for Saturday's game, the radio affiliate will resume broadcasting East Carolina games starting the following week against Navy on Oct. 13.