Kansas City Chiefs’ Coach Andy Reid didn’t boot his top three players for anthem kneeling

Kansas City Chiefs fans can rest assured: Contrary to social media posts, Patrick Mahomes, Chris Jones and Travis Kelce haven’t been kicked off the team.

"Chiefs' Coach Andy Reid draws line, fires 3 top players for anthem kneeling," said a June 24 Facebook post. 

The post quoted Reid as saying, "You’re players, not activists." It also included a photo of former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who played for the San Francisco 49ers, not the Chiefs. Kaepernick made headlines in 2017 for kneeling during the national anthem at National Football League games to protest police violence against Black Americans.

The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The story appears to have originated on SpaceXMania, a satire publication. In February, the site published an article similarly claiming that Reid fired the top three Chiefs players for anthem kneeling. 

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Fox News reported on Taco Bell instead of former President Donald Trump’s conviction.

But the June 24 post reshared the story with no signal that it is satire. Some Facebook users seemed to believe it was authentic. 

One person commented, "Good if they can’t stand for the national anthem. They don’t need to play as far as I’m concerned."

Another wrote, "Thank you for standing your ground and setting the example for respect."

Although Kelce and Jones did kneel during the national anthem at a game in 2017, we found no evidence that Reid fired them or other top Chiefs players. 

Reid has not taken a public stance on anthem kneeling. In 2018, when asked about the NFL policy prohibiting players from kneeling during the national anthem, he said: "There will be a time when we address it and talk about it, but that will be within the team. Nobody else needs to really know."

We rate the claim that Reid fired three Chiefs players for kneeling during the national anthem False.