‘I won’t let the BS pull me down’: Hamilton says he has no plans to ‘take a knee’

2017 United States Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton says he supports America’s ‘take a knee’ protesters but does not plan to join in at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver previously said he would consider whether to join the civil rights protest begun by NFL player Colin Kaepernick last year. However in today’s FIA press conference at the Circuit of the America he said he had no plans to kneel during Sunday’s national anthem performance.

“Of course there’s been a lot of mention of it, not of the kneeling, just of the whole situation,” Hamilton explained.

“Obviously I know a lot of people here in America, I get to speak to a lot of black and white people who live here in America. So I get quite a good view of what’s happening here in the States and options from Americans and about the movement, which I think is pretty huge. You’ve seen I’ve posted about it, I respect it highly, the movement that Kaepernick started I think is awesome.”

Hamilton said he was putting his performance in this weekend’s race before everything else.

“I’m very much in support of it but I’m here to win, that’s really top of my priority at the moment,” said Hamilton. “I’m not focused on anything else at the moment.”

“I don’t really plan on allowing all the BS [bullshit] that’s surrounding the topic pull me down in my strive to winning this world title,” he added. “I’ve worked hard to be where I am today and whilst I do have opinions and feelings towards the whole situation as I said at the moment I have no plans to do anything.”

However Hamilton indicated that winning this weekend would give him added satisfaction given recent events in America.

“Winning here is the most important thing for me,” he said. “Particularly in the heat, in the midst of all that’s going on in the country, I think that is a priority for me. You know what I’m talking about.”

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Keith Collantine
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54 comments on “‘I won’t let the BS pull me down’: Hamilton says he has no plans to ‘take a knee’”

  1. Good lad… smart decision.

    1. Yeah, he needs to know his place.
      Like “everybody” else. #okaysign

    2. This is F1 not politics .
      Lewis replied in the best way possible.
      Please don’t bring politics into sport.

  2. The article to the title is a bit click-baity.

    1. Other way around. Other way around. Sorry. The title to the article.

  3. probably makes sense yeah. First of all he indeed needs to be focussed on winning. But also, if he as a foreigner does this, I am sure some would pick it up in a “foreigners coming here telling us what to do” rhetoric, maybe even a tweet storm – a distraction he doesn’t need.
    And who knows what the obligations are according to the FIA, he might risk having to visit the stewards and get a reprimand for behaving unfittingly during the anthem.

  4. Whilst sympathising with his personal feelings, he would be ill advised to get himself embroiled in the politics of the USA and to endanger the sport & his brand, which seems more marketable than ever.

    1. The entire Hertha Berlin team and management took a knee. They were commended for doing so.

      1. By whom? Most thought it was silly.

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          20th October 2017, 0:10

          The media, obviously

        2. Mickey's Miniature Grandpa
          20th October 2017, 12:59

          Oh look. An “everyone agrees with me” evidence-free assertion, coupled with a “therefore I am right” fallacy.

      2. I too am a Lewis fan, but this is not his fight, in fact the fight isn’t even [largely] against the police, see

        https://rosebyanyothernameblog.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/when-arrests-go-bad/

        Pleased to see he’s concentrating on being the best driver/car/team combination this year

        1. This is every bodies fight if we believe in equality.Its like saying breast cancer is not my fight because I or any one I know dont hves it. Support for Breast cancer increase awareness boost research and funding which lead to cure and better treatment,so when and if it affects you a better chance of beating it.

          In the same way showing solidarity for the humane and equal treatment of Blacks in America,strengthen the fight for equality for women and LGBT. which in turn fight sexual harassment.

          Ultimately that solidarity helps us fight collectively for better wages and standard of living for all…its all interconnected.
          The most offensive statement I ve been hearing is he is not American,so guess if you not American you should care about 911,or if not french dont care about the bombings.
          I understand people dont want to be bother with the unpleasantness of Black inequality,and by the way we turn a blind eye to alot in the middle east to host our little sportevent

  5. Sensible to comment on this now and kill-off speculation and commentary.

    1. +1 He’s said enough for now. Wise decision to put an end to speculation now. Winning the race and championship, or at least giving 100% to do that, is the priority in all senses. Plenty of enemies of all kinds would prefer to see him distracted.

  6. I think too it was the most sensible outcome…..and needed to be sorted before the show started.

    He kind of shot himself……in the knee….by announcing that he “may or may not” take a knee.

    It became a damned if you do and damned if you don’t situation after that……

    He does do it: He gets a backlash of a section of a population and wades waist deep into a social and political situation that he may not be fully informed about. In addition, he opens himself up to a possible penalty reprisal from the sport (last thing he wants to do). I bet Mercedes lent on him heavily too as they have their US market to think about.

    He does not do it: He has backed down from saying he may do it, so it looks like he was just paying lip service to a social/political situation may not fully understand. It could appear he was making a statement to get attention without realising the implications of what he was saying. Angers those who feel he should stand up to protests about racism. Makes him look a bit silly.

    Let me be clear, these are just how it could be viewed either way, not what I think.

    Personally, it would not have bothered me if he had done it or not done it. But he should not announced that he may or may not do it for the reasons above. I also tend to agree that while it is always nice to show solidarity, there is no equivalent movement taking such a stance in the UK, so it can always be unwise to make statements about another countries social/political issues. Otherwise we would have a field day in some of the other countries F1 visits and I do not think there would be enough knees left to take.

    1. That’s the problem. He never “announced” anything. He was asked if he considered doing it. He said he supported the movement but hadn’t thought about whether or not he would, but he would give the whole situation more thought. This turned into “Hamilton might take a knee”. Very few of you can appreciate the fact that only Hamilton gets asked these kinds of questions in the first place. The American media especially act as if you have any sort of African heritage you’re automatically black & should automatically have an opinion on anything black related, even if you’re not American. Poor Lewis is damned no matter what he does. Refuse to comment & the headlines would probably read “Hamilton silent about racial injustice” or something similarly inflammatory.

      1. @aldoid
        +1

        I think this is the first Sensible comment on the matter.

        You don’t have to be black or a minority to take the knee.

        It’s a humble silent protest.

        The fact there is so much animosity about it speaks volumes.

        I’d respect anyone, black white or whatever, that shows solidarity with the sentiment.

        The whole point is that a proper debate over the matter is brought into the open and those that can make a difference take note.

        Shunning those that take the knee is an attempt at stifling the debate and not addressing the issue.

        Hollywood is finally listening to all those women who where abused by Weinstein, the ones who spoke up at the time and where ignored and the ones who suffered in silence too fearful of the repercussions. Hopefully they will now listen to those (men and women) abused by others who where protected by the system. The Catholic Church globally went through similar revelations that still keep coming. There are many other groups who have been abused in different situations who’s circumstances we haven’t heard of.

        Victims of systemic abuse overlooked by the system and society need a voice. Taking the knee is one way to ensure the message is received by society at large and that change can happen.

        If society is scared and offended by a silent protest, it indicates a problem within the society.

  7. I don’t care if NFLers take a knee. But, it would have been massively hypocritical of him to take a knee in the US for a few reasons. He has said himself this is a global issue but has never mentioned taking a knee or bringing that to the UK (racism exists there too, he has said so), and has had many opportunities to do so since Kaepernick started this last year. It would also make more sense than joining a US movement. But most notable for its hypocrisy would be how he has done nothing in his many visits to China and the Middle East, including Bahrain during the Arab Spring movement, where he does press events and campaigning with no visible concern over their widely documented human rights problems. The fact is, which we saw all too well in Bahrain, is that F1 has no ground to stand on when the topic of human rights issues comes up because Bernie has created a decades long legacy (South Africa, anyone?) of putting money ahead of concerns over host nations’ politics.

    1. I never get this kind of argument. Better to do nothing because it would be ‘hypocritical’? Much better surely that the person makes the right stance on one issue, and then you point out, constructively, that the same applies to the other issue you’re concerned about? Yes the whole sport has been ethically distorted by the anti-democratic (polite language version) Ecclestone. But that’s no reason to change things now.

      1. *not to change things (!)

    2. Racism exists everywhere in all parts of society. However to suggest that Racism is similar in the UK to the US is just way off the mark. The US has a deep rooted issue the UK has isolated issues like many other countries.

      Lewis is correct to leave this one alone during the GP as it can be a thorny issue when you are involving yourself with an issue that is in another country. It is one thing for an American to Kneel for their own anthem and entirely another for a foreigner to kneel for the US anthem. He is better to highlight and support the issue in other ways.

  8. Has anyone asked for Alonso’s opinions on the Police brutality in Spain?

    1. Or asked Kvyat about the Ukraine, human rights violations, or whether or not Russian doping affects motorsports as well… at least I never heard any of it asked of him. Perez dropped a sponsor over some U.S./Mexican border wall dust up & whatever comments or feelings he may have had on the matter barely made a ripple in the grand scheme of reporting on F1 driver related topics. Let’s watch if he’ll be fielding those kinds of questions this weekend (as well as if he gets asked his opinion on Trump… they’ll surely throw in an earthquake question or two, just to be PC & seem sincere… that part won’t make the headlines until a slow news day though).

    2. To add, I don’t recall Pastor Maldonado being asked too many questions about whether or not the money PDVSA was paying Williams for him to smash their cars up wouldn’t have been better spent back in Venezuela when things began to fall apart. The inaugural Indian GP at the Buddh International Circuit would have been a perfect time to ask Karun Chandhok about the serious problem of the raping of women in India that their patriarchal society seems keen to turn a blind eye to. I don’t recall too many questions being directed his way either.

      1. And for that matter, why hasn’t anyone questioned F1fanatic user Aldoid about all the events listed above or issues from his/her country? It sickens me.

        1. I’m Jamaican, so this weekend could very well be a lucky one for us both: they might decide to ask Usain Bolt some relevant Jamaican questions. We’ve got plenty of social issues they could question him about… we should cross our respective fingers & hold our breaths (periodically)……

      2. I remember many comments on this site were very critical of Maldonado’s sponsorship. The general tone was he was a pay driver sponsored by horrible socialist government money.

        I felt the real problem was thier dedication to a 2nd tier driver. Especially with Patronus sponsoring Merc.

    3. Alonso, Kyvat nor any other F1 driver has not used their F1 social media accounts to post politically so it would be strange for journalists to suddenly start asking them about politics. I’m sure if they did the journos won’t hesitate to ask more questions that relate to it.

  9. The entire Hertha Berlin football team and management took a knee in Germany They were commended for doing that

    1. But there’s a difference between a whole team, or a lot of members of a team, making this kind of protest, and one person, in isolation, presumably with all the other drivers doing nothing of the sort. The media furore against or at least around Hamilton would be huge – and probably hugely distracting, which in a sport like Formula 1 is a major hindrance to performance. Whereas a football team will just get on with playing, unless the crowd is openly hostile throughout the match (which I presume it wasn’t).

  10. It’s best not to inject his own politics into that situation. In Texas of all places it probably wouldn’t go over well.

  11. Seems wise. I think he, like plenty of others who ‘may’ support the movement, has realised that it’s OK to do it if it’s your own anthem… but not OK to do it to another country’s anthem.

  12. That’s a shame, it would have been hilarious.

  13. If he had taken a knee it would have backfired on him. Politics should and has not been a part of this sport. Examples…. Brazil, Russia, Bahrain, Mexico, just strap in and race, 2 hours of beautifullness no matter what country your in.

    1. That is a really difficult issue.

      On one hand countries use sport and especially sports like F1 to legitimise their politics (For example the only reason we are talking about national anthems at the start of the race is because Putin requested it for the Russian GP). So F1 is already being used as a political tool.

      On the other, where do you draw the line?

      Personally I think they should have withdrawn the Russian GP due to Ukraine and the Bahrain GP due to human rights violations in the building of the circuit they were racing on. However other internal issues should probably be left alone.

  14. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
    19th October 2017, 21:58

    He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t, but because he’s not a citizen of the US it makes sense that he limits his support to vocally supporting the movement – the whole point of the gesture is to emphasise that you’re not an equal citizen, it doesn’t quite make sense when foreigners do it. Maybe Lewis should get dual-citizenship, he seems to feel a great affinity for the country and it would make such decisions far easier – the fact that it would send much our our rotten press into freefall wouldn’t be such a bad thing either!

    1. Keep politics out of sport.
      The NFL players doing this are protesting about not being equal citizens, when it was that very system/country that allowed them to earn ridiculous amounts of money, become famous, gave them massive opportunities etc. It doesn’t make sense.

      1. The players worked hard to get where they are now. Nobody gave them anything. Why is it that black sports people are ‘allowed’? It’s their country and they should supposedly have all access, rights, opportunities that other Americans have. Enough with this expectation of gratitude.

      2. tgu (@thegrapeunwashed)
        20th October 2017, 8:16

        Mick, read the Guardian article on this (F1 sports section). Politics and sport are completely intertwined, the only time ‘keep politics out of sport is raised’ is when sportsman don’t toe the correct political line.

        1. You mean the Line the Liberal Guardian and Indy supports the Guardian runs a close most Biased fake news source to CNN and BBC

  15. American politics is an absolute shambles and the last place Lewis should want to ‘take a knee’ is Texas. The NFL has suffered in revenue since the ‘take a knee’ stance and is now seen as an attack on the American flag. As a Brit who enjoys probably more popularity in the USA than any other driver, it is an issue he may have an opinion on but is best to stay away from publicly expressing. It can only cause him problems. Good decision.

  16. It is worth noting that the United States Constitution provides no speech protection to employees in the workplace. It only protects from government infringement. If an employer declares “no political speech” at work, there is no recourse. The employee can comply, resign or, if violating policy, be terminated. Multiple Supreme Court decisions support the employer’s right to regulate employee speech. NFL players and F1 drivers, at the field or the track, are employees in the workplace.

    1. It’s probably also worth noting then that Lewis drives for a German owned British company, which have considerably more rights given to their employees

  17. Sundar Srinivas Harish
    20th October 2017, 7:51

    What if Hamilton’s 2019 contract depends on him bending the knee?

  18. I’m pleased he has ruled this out. It’s an American domestic problem, and it’s not his anthem.
    The best, most simple answer to the whole problem is to avoid playing national anthems in front of sporting events. Did this start with the first Russian GP, or when?
    I cannot understand why the US anthem is played in front of domestic NFL games anyway. Is the UK national anthem played before EPL football matches, or the German anthem in front of Bundesliga games? This is not a rhetorical question, I would really like to know.

    1. It’s to honor our troops who fought and died to ensure our freedom and democracy. Our troops are the ones who have maintained freedom here, and we honor them everyday and in every way we can. That is why it hurts to see em kneel. Cause the anthem is not about the police here, it is about our troops. The kneeling is misguided.

      On the other hand, just reaching for your wallet will get you shot by a cop here now. Too many simulators where the virtual bad guy is so quick, cops do not even think anymore. That has to stop. So it’s a very fine line at the moment.

      1. You’ve got to realise though, that this idea that the anthem is to honour the troops is seen as an incredibly nationalistic stance, most commonly associated with tinpot regimes. When it comes to flag and anthem, America falls right in line with North Korea, you may not understand why, because you’re deep in the system, but that’s certainly how Europe sees this “cult of the flag”.

        Flags and anthems are symbols, but kneeling isn’t in itself disrespectful. It’s only because someone has decided that during this symbolic ceremony that putting your body into this specific shape means disrespect to this group of people that it does to some. Imagine the leader of your country suddenly announced that standing for the anthem meant disrespecting the millions of disabled veterans and insisted everyone kneels – well then suddenly, everything changes, because what is and is not respectful exists only in the social contract.

        You know as well as I do that the people are not kneeling to disrespect troops, or even the police. They are kneeling to peacefully highlight their cause. It is possible to kneel for the anthem, or protest peacefully in any way and still love your country, respect the people and the troops. In fact, I would suggest that that act of peaceful protest proved beyond any doubt that they do love their country, and do respect the troops past and present who made it possible. In every other western country, this is a given!

  19. The USA becomes more like a christian church every day and personal attacks follow the instant anyone decides to enact their Constitutional First Amendment rights and not stand for the flag and anthem, which is not mandatory as stipulated by the Supreme Court. However given that, staying out of the drama is probably the best way to go.

  20. Well as you can see, old Hamilton would do protests like that.

    But new Hamilton is here to do one thing, one thing alone: win the race, bring home the championship.

    It was a key weakness in the past, often times he would waste focus on worldly affairs.

    I approve of his ways, he is here to win, whatever colour of his skin.

  21. I would put money on it: Hamilton won’t be there for the anthem.

    1. Lol, maybe – I would put money on at least one driver kneeling, possibly Danny Ric

  22. Mickey's Miniature Grandpa
    20th October 2017, 13:25

    A lot of good points raised here. Which is unusual for an internet debate of any kind.

    At the risk of stating the obvious, ultimately it’s up to Hamilton to decide for himself whether this is an issue he wants to get involved in. I can’t tell him whether he should or should not; there is not a clear winner in the debate between the shoulds and should nots, and in any case my opinion is irrelevant.

    That doesn’t mean I can’t ask myself what I [would like to] think I would do in his place. Sometimes the right thing to do conflicts with the logical thing to do. The logical thing to do appears to be to take the knee; as somebody once said, the need of the many outweighs the need of the few, or the one. As for the right thing to do… support a just cause? Or stay out of it for some of the reasons others have pointed out above? Tough call. I think for me, if I were in that position, the only answer I can truthfully give is that I’d sleep on it and go with my gut.

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