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Linsey Talks About Taking A Knee After NFL National Anthem

NASHVILLE (Radio.com) - The NFL was a hotbed of controversy over the weekend as players and coaches around the League took a knee during pregame performances of the national anthem in response to President's Trump's controversial comments on the issue.

Country singer Meghan Linsey shocked and surprised fans at the Tennessee Titans-Seattle Seahawks game at Nashville's Nissan Stadium yesterday (Sept. 24) by taking a knee at the end of her own national anthem performance before kickoff.

"I was absolutely terrified walking out there," Lindsey told Yahoo! about the moment. "I knew what I was getting ready to do, and I understood what it meant. Obviously, I made a name for myself in country music, and I knew what the backlash would be. So I walked out there scared. But I have to go into my gut and my heart, and I knew that was the right thing to do today."

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Singer Meghan Linsey (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

The singer explained that it was a decision not made lightly, but one that she felt was necessary given the situation.

"Until yesterday, I didn't even think about it that much," she said last night following the performance. "Then I was thinking about the things that [the president] said yesterday, and I thought, 'Man, it really does need to be addressed, and I think I'm in a position to take a stand and hopefully make a difference.' I have a lot of African-American friends, and they can't stand alone. I love America. I'm not unpatriotic. I appreciate our men and women in uniform. That's not the issue. I think the issue is the things that are happening around us with racism, and Trump will come out and openly condemn NFL players for peacefully protesting, but then these white national terrorists bring their tiki torches and cause this violence, and then he has nothing to say. It was important to me to stand with [African-Americans]."

"I couldn't have gone out there and not done anything and felt good about it, because I have always built this platform on empowerment and loving people — whatever color, whatever sexual orientation," Linsey added. "And it was like: Of all the days that I would sing the anthem! It put me in a weird spot. You're making a choice when you walk out there, however you handle it. If you don't take a knee, it's like: what do you stand for? For me, anything else wasn't an option."

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