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Michael Strahan stopped by "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" Monday morning to explain his stance on the #TakeAKnee movement.
Despite having a father who served in the United States Armed Forces, the former NFL star and "Good Morning America" co-host is in support of Colin Kaepernick and every NFL player who kneels during the singing of the National Anthem before games.
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View Story"My father's in the military -- retired major, jumping out of airplanes, doing all that stuff -- and I know why [Colin Kaepernick] knelt was not in any disrespect to the military or anybody in the armed services because I have an appreciation for that," Strahan told Ellen DeGeneres. "And when my father can look at me and tell me that he's not offended and that he understands, then how could I -- who didn't do that service -- be offended?"
"That's one of the things you can do in this country -- is you can protest -- and [Colin's] protesting injustices that he sees happening," Strahan continued. "And I take my hat off to him because he really did sacrifice and put so much on the line for other people that he had no idea who they were -- he never met them, did not know them -- and he put his life and career on the line."
Ellen then asked Strahan if he would kneel alongside Kaepernick supporters if he were still playing today.
"If I was still playing football today, I would be old as dirt, first of all," he said laughing. "But you know, I don't know -- I think I would have. I think I would have. I would've had a conversation with my father. I would've had a conversation with my dad, and based on that conversation I would've had with him, I'm pretty sure I would have."
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View Story"But I also would've been proactive in getting more organized because I do believe that there needs to be more organization between the players and the ownership," he added. "Because when you look at other sports, they kind of have it together. Football -- there seems to be a fracture there between players and ownership -- and they need to get that together in order to get the message out there in the right way, rather than have the message become hijacked and turn into something that it was never intended to be."
Regarding Nike naming Kaepernick as one of the faces of the company's 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign, Strahan said, "They're smart. They know what they're doing."
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