Donald Trump: No One Asked for NFL's Roger Goodell to Release Video Statement

President Donald Trump continued to voice his displeasure with the NFL on Saturday during his first campaign rally since the coronavirus pandemic began.

In a speech at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump again criticized the league and commissioner Roger Goodell for releasing a video in which Goodell said "Black Lives Matter" and encouraged players to peacefully protest.  

"Explain this to the NFL," Trump told the crowd, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. "I like the NFL. I like Roger Goodell. But I didn't like what he said a week ago. I said, 'Where did that come from in the middle of the summer? Nobody's even asking.'"

Goodell's statement came as a response to a video released by a number of NFL players, including Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Thomas, Ezekiel Elliott and DeAndre Hopkins. The video was released on June 4, only days after protests against systemic racism began around the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody. 

Following Goodell's response, even more players—such as Washington running back Adrian Peterson—announced their intention to kneel during the national anthem during the upcoming season, which both mirrors the movement begun by quarterback Colin Kaepernick and continues to bring attention to racial injustice and police brutality.

In 2017, Trump referred to those who kneeled as a "son of a bitch" and encouraged NFL owners to fire players for the action.

"We will never kneel to our national anthem or our great American flag," Trump said in Tulsa on Saturday. "We will stand proud, and we will stand tall. I thought we won that battle with the NFL. Their stadiums were emptying out. Did you see those stadiums? Took them a long time to get you back. Lot of people didn't like that. You know, lot of people that you wouldn't even think would care that much. I've had people that I said, 'These are super-left liberals,' and they didn't like it."

The NFL has yet to respond to Trump's renewed criticisms.