https://youtube.com/watch?v=2txPwIYrZXM
Rosie O’Donnell saw dark geopolitical implications in the National Football League’s penalization of Kansas City Chiefs player Husain Abdullah for a post-touchdown prayer, warning the football league is taking part in an effort to “propel us to war” against the Islamic world.
Abdullah slid and then bowed in an Islamic prayer posture after scoring a touchdown on Monday night, violating a league rule prohibiting celebrations “while on the ground.” The league quickly — before today’s show — said the penalty had been a mistake and wouldn’t be assessed in the future.
“Are we feeding into Muslim fear?” Whoopi Goldberg asked on Tuesday’s The View, referring to the penalty.
“Yes,” O’Donnell replied immediately. “I think as a nation we are. I think that, you know, it propels us to war. You have to rally the country in order to bomb a country that did nothing to you. And you need to rally them. And so that’s what I think that was.”
O’Donnell was presumably referring to the American air campaign against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria. In addition to slaughtering thousands of civilians and driving thousands more from their homes, the jihadists also beheaded two American journalists.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the NFL said the penalty was made in error, explaining exceptions are made for a “player who goes to the ground as part of religious expression.”