SEALs Sever Ties With Navy Museum Over Colin Kaepernick Videos

The Navy SEALs are suspending their support of the National Navy SEAL Museum over videos that surfaced recently which were taken at an event at the Fort Pierce, Florida museum last year.

The videos circulating on social media show dogs attacking a mannequin wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration at the museum, which is not directly overseen by the military.

In another video, after “Navy SEALs and Navy SEAL dogs take down Colin Kaepernick for not standing during National Anthem,” he moans something like, "Oh man, I will stand” #BecauseFlorida https://t.co/uZ3ervZguB pic.twitter.com/6vi1uCGIt5

— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) August 2, 2020

“Each and every one of us serves to protect our fellow Americans – ALL Americans. Even the perception that our commitment to serving the men and women of this nation is applied unevenly is destructive,” Rear Admiral Collin Green wrote in an letter to unit members on Monday. “We will revisit our relationship with the Museum when I am convinced that they have made the necessary changes to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again.”

In the letter, which was provided to The Associated Press by a servicemember under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so, Green also said the SEALs are linked to the museum even though it is an independent non-profit organization that does not employ Department of Defense workers. “We may not have contributed to the misperception in this case, but we suffer from it and will not allow it to continue,” he said.

After the videos first surfaced over the weekend, the Navy issued a statement and said they would be investigating the videos but that it appeared no active-duty personnel were involved in the museum’s event.

“The inherent message of this video is completely inconsistent with the values and ethos of Naval Special Warfare and the U.S. Navy,” the statement said.

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