The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 06:31 PM

Cleveland Tennessee Business Owner Sounds Off On NFL Protests

Cleveland, Tennessee business owner Allan Jones Opens a New Window. said on Friday that anthem protests are unpatriotic.

“I know all about Francis Scott Key — why he wrote the Star Spangled Banner and if you just Google and see why he wrote the Star Spangled Banner and why we have stood — I’m 64 years old — we have never not stood for the Star Spangled Banner,” he told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on ‘Varney & Co.’

Jones, who is the CEO of short-term lending company Check Into Cash and suit maker Hardwick Clothes, said his companies will not run any ads for the rest of the NFL season.

“I saw it get started and then I didn’t think a whole lot of it… and then it got bigger and bigger… I am a patriot first and this is about the flag, this is about the country, it’s not about anything racial. We stand together for the country black and white and we stand for the flag,” he said.

Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker said fans upset by team demonstrations during the national anthem should stay home.

“I am going to do what he says,” Jones said. “We have pulled our ads off the air,” and added that other business owners will follow suit.

“See, we are a small player but also like the car dealer in Fort Wayne, Indiana will probably pull his off the air and all these mom and pop shops will pull theirs off the air, and that’s a big deal when you take this all across the country,” Jones said.