Late-Night Comedians Tackle Trump's Obsession With NFL Players Who #TakeTheKnee

The #TakeTheKnee hashtag began trending on social media after POTUS insisted on Friday that anyone protesting the American flag at athletic events should be "fired." In response to Trump's swipes at the NFL on Twitter and in a rally speech, athletes and coaches across the country kneeled, locked arms or stayed in the locker rooms during the singing of the national anthem at their Sunday games.

Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, James Corden and Jimmy Fallon had some thoughts on the subject.

On Monday's "Daily Show," Noah pointed out that after the Charlottesville riots, which ended in a fatality, Trump said that some of the people involved were "very fine people," but when "black football players protest peacefully by taking a knee during the anthem, he calls them sons of bitches who should be fired."

"Now, look, I don't know if Trump is racist, but I do know he definitely prefers white people to black people," the comedian said. "I can say that with confidence."

According to Noah, Trump's greatest concern should not be the disrespecting of the American flag.

"You know what should really piss him off?" he said. "The confederate flag. That's what should piss him off. That's basically waving a picture of your ex around."

Colbert felt that Trump calling NFL players who kneel "sons of bitches" was unnecessary.

"The blow back was immediate," Colbert said on "The Late Show" Monday. "Colin Kaepernick's mom, who after seeing the president of the United States call her son a son of a bitch, tweeted, 'Guess that makes me a proud bitch!'"

And that's no joke:

"Colin's mom is the coolest mom in sports. After that, she took the whole team to Dairy Queen and made it rain orange slices," the comedian joked.

Colbert noted Trump's tweet in support of those standing with locked arms, but had to explain to POTUS that "locking arms doesn't mean they're on your side."

During Monday's "Late Night," Meyers ridiculed Trump for opting to care about NFL players peacefully protesting instead of the growing nuclear tensions in North Korea or the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico.

Meyers, like many of his late-night comrades, played the clip of the CNN news anchor prefacing Trump's speech Friday in Alabama with "I should warn you -- some, especially young ones in the room, are gonna find this language offensive."

"Let's just take a step back and consider how embarrassing it is that news anchors now have to introduce comments from the president by warning little children to leave the room," Meyers said.

"Donald Trump is our first NC-17 president," he joked. "And it's not even a good NC-17 movie. Trump is basically the 'Show Girls' of presidents. Trump's presidential library is gonna be in the back of a video store where they keep all the pornos."

Trump also suggested football ratings were "way down" because people would rather tune in to watch "yours truly."

"That's right," the comedian said. "In Donald Trump's mind, people are turning off NFL games, gathering their friends and ordering pizza to watch an out-of-shape blowhard shuffle around like he got separated from a tour group."

Corden wasted no time roasting Trump over his call for team owners to fire players who kneel during the anthem.

"We can only hope and pray that's what Americans are also gonna say in the next presidential election," the "Late Late Show" host said.

Corden also went in on POTUS for his criticism of the league taking measures to prevent concussions on the field, saying it ruins the game.

"I don't think Trump realizes how dangerous the symptoms of these concussions are," the comedian quipped. "Headaches, emotional instability, emotional behavior -- basically, they turn you into Donald Trump."

Corden pointed out that "even the singer of the national anthem for the Detroit Lions ended his performance by kneeling down and raising a fist."

He added, "Now, I don't want to say that Trump's making things worse for this cause, but at this point, the guy singing the national anthem is protesting the national anthem."

"The Tonight Show" host Fallon joked, "We had a bunch of big football match-ups yesterday. You had the Eagles against the Giants, you had the Patriots against the Texans, and you had the president against everyone."

Fallon then went into Trump's new rules for the NFL:

1. "Someone has to get sacked every five minutes, just like at the White House."

2. "The broadcasters for every game have to be the hosts of 'Fox and Friends.'"

2. "When a referee overturns a call, he has to say, 'The previous play was fake news!'"