During Sunday's AM Joy on MSNBC, during discussions of the white racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, White House advisors Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Stephen Miller were repeatedly referred to by panel members as "Nazis" or "white supremacists." And in one segment, as the group fretted over Colin Kaepernick's outcast status in the NFL, ESPN columnist William C. Rhoden oddly claimed that "a lot of players" in both the NFL and Major League Baseball "have kind of support from these people -- the Nazis or white supremacists," as host Joy Reid responded in agreement.
At 10:54 a.m. ET, recurring MSNBC guest Fernand Amandi of Bendixen and Amandi International went on a rant as he claimed that "I think America owes Colin Kaepernick an apology this morning, and the NFL owes him a job." After noting that private businesses like the NFL have a right to behave as they wish on the Kaepernick matter, he then launched into smearing Trump White House advisors as "Nazis" as he added:
But you know what's not a private business, Joy? The federal government. And if Colin Kaepernick can be out of a job for exercising a peaceful First Amendment right, why are the three Nazis in the White House -- Bannon, Gorka and Miller -- whose jobs are funded by we, the taxpayers -- why are they still working today?
A bit later, Rhoden made his strange claim that many athletes are supported by "Nazis or white supremacists" with Reid indicating agreement:
WILLIAM C. RHODEN, ESPN'S THE UNDFEATED: And I think those of us who believe in our rights as human beings, or we don't support police violence, we've really got to stand up. We've got to stand up. And, by the way, I think a lot of players in the NFL and Major League Baseball, a lot of them have kind of support from these people -- the Nazis or white supremacists. I think it's really up to all those people, all of these sports that have these very public positions to let --
JOY REID: Yeah.
RHODEN: -- it be known that, you know what, we're not about this, you know --
REID; Yeah.
RHODEN: -- we're not about this, we're not about this type of hatred.
REID: Yeah. We are unfortunately out of time.
In a later segment at 11:23 a.m. ET, Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart echoed Amandi's smearing of Trump advisors as he proclaimed:
Alt-Right is nothing but white supremacy in black tie. Let's talk about what it is, and that the President of the United States has a white supremacist mere feet from him in the Oval Office. We are talking about Charlottesville today because people like Steve Bannon, people like Gorka, people like Miller, other people who are probably sprinkled throughout this administration believe this point of view.
