Sam Upshaw Jr./Courier Journal / USA TODAY Network
The entire Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball team, as well as coach John Calipari, knelt down during the national anthem on Saturday before the 76-58 victory over Florida.
In previous home games this season, the Wildcats stayed in the locker room while the anthem played at the Rupp Arena, according to Kyle Tucker of The Athletic.
Calipari had previously said that Kentucky would decide how to carry out any protest as a team, and that everyone would participate or nobody. The Wildcats followed this line of thought in their first public protest.
The protest comes in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday by a crowd of President Trump supporters who contested the legitimacy of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Along with the entire cast and crew of the Wildcats, Gators guard Scottie Lewis also knelt during the national anthem. Lewis, a sophomore, has actively protested racial inequality and is a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Lewis previously led a peaceful protest in June after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.
After the 76-58 victory, Calipari told reporters that on the way to the arena he heard that his players wanted to kneel to hear the hymn. He gathered three team leaders and asked why they wanted to kneel and they replied that they care about their country and are trying to express their feelings. They started asking Calipari to kneel with them.
Kentucky guard Keion Brooks Jr. also mentioned the protest and said the team’s reasoning goes beyond Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol.
“It’s a lot of things that happen every day that we kneel for,” Brooks Jr. told reporters. “Capitol, that material had a role to play in it, but there are some other things that we don’t see and happen every day that are unacceptable, that we want to stand against.”
Kentucky (5-6) will host Alabama (9-3) on Tuesday at 9 pm EST in their next match.