Kentucky President Eli Capilouto and Sporting Director Mitch Barnhart supported the men’s basketball team on Monday after beating Florida on Saturday at the Rupp Arena before beating Florida on Saturday after the rioters stormed the Capitol , faced setbacks after players and coaches, including coach John Calipari, in Washington, DC
Aside from the criticism the team was exposed to on social media, a local sheriff posted a video burning Kentucky t-shirts and local officials asked state lawmakers to devalue the university.
“A value that we all value in our country is the right to freedom of expression and self-expression,” said Capilouto and Barnhart in a joint statement. “This right for young students like this is also important as they learn, grow and find out who they are and what they believe in. We will not always agree on every point. However, we hope we can agree on the law We live in a polarized and deeply divided country. Our hope – and that of our players and coaches – is to find ways to bridge divide and unite. “
Laurel County, Kentucky, Sheriff John Root posted a video Sunday showing he and a prison guard burned shirts reminiscent of some of the last four Kentucky runs. The video has since been deleted, but in a Facebook post on Saturday the sheriff wrote: “To believe that a so-called coach and team would take such action makes me sick.”
On Monday’s Lexington radio show, Calipari explained why the team chose to kneel.
“It was all the pictures that you saw and that you wanted to hear your voice, and I said, ‘Tell me what this is about,” he said. “They talked to me about it. Then they said ‘we want you to kneel with us’ which I did. I held my heart, but I knelt with them because I support the guys. But it wasn’t about the military. Six of these players come from military families. … This wasn’t about the military. “
In Knox County, Kentucky, about two hours from Lexington, officials responded to the team’s decision to kneel by suggesting that the state toughen the University of Kentucky through a decision to redistribute tax funding from unpatriotic recipients working kentucky relieved [taxpayers] about this Commonwealth, “the Times-Tribune said.
The players said on Monday they expected the backlash. The great Olivier Sarr said they used their platform as a player to protest peacefully.
“I think our action speaks for itself,” said Sarr. “What has happened in the past few days, weeks and even during the quarantine, we just want to show support for our community and raise awareness of the things that have happened lately. It comes from a place where peaceful conversations are understood and are open-minded. That’s it. “
Isaiah Jackson spoke of the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol, referring to a noose that was erected outside the building.
“There were a couple of things,” he said. “As if I saw the noose. That was easy, was out of pocket. That’s just something people shouldn’t do. I have a feeling that people have their own opinions, but that was just like that, that was just out of my pocket. Only burglary is just crazy for me. “
