Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is joining in the chorus of conservative outrage over Nike’s recall of sneakers adorned with an image of the Betsy Ross American flag, due to its reverberations of an era of slavery.
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, McConnell weighed in Tuesday at an unrelated event in his home state.
“If we’re in a political environment where the American flag has become controversial to Americans, I think we’ve got a problem,” McConnell said. “I hope Nike either releases these shoes or some other shoe maker picks up the flag, puts it on a pair of shoes and starts selling it. I’ll make the first order.”
Nike pulled the sneakers after former NFL player Colin Kaepernick aired his opposition to the design. The NAACP chimed in that the flag had been appropriated by some white nationalist groups as a protest to America’s increasing diversification.
