A popular Wisconsin restaurant has put a football field’s worth of daylight between itself and one of its co-owners who responded to the NFL’s #TakeAKnee protests by calling for the players to die. Clearly fuming over the players’ ongoing decision to kneel during the pregame national anthem, John Valko posted a message Monday evening on Reefpoint Brew House’s Facebook page that detailed what he felt the consequences should be for participating in the protests. President Trump said fire them on the spot, but job dismissal lacks the finality of Valko’s idea:
Kill the idiot players. Execute them. They are nothing but garbage. The league is screwed up if they think it is their right. It is their duty to respect our country and our flag. They should go kneel in front of a freight train. Shame on these stupid misfits of society. They need to die.
The Facebook post got yanked pretty fast, but everything online lives forever:
Fifty percent of the sentences in Valko’s message wished the players death: “Kill the idiot players,” “Execute them,” “They should go kneel in front of a freight train,” and “They need to die.”
Reefpoint’s three other owners have spoken several times to the media, and they issued a statement yesterday explaining Valko’s tirade doesn’t reflect anybody else’s views at the restaurant:
Local media report that Valko is “stepping aside” from his role at Reefpoint. He also apologized yesterday, explaining he understands it’s “unacceptable” to suggest killing people “no matter how angry you might be feeling.” He’s promised to work with a therapist, adding, “There is nothing else I can do at this point other than to say I’m sorry. I am very, very sorry.”
