Did an NFL referee expel 10 players for kneeling during the U.S. national anthem in late August 2024? No, that's not true: The images used to depict the supposed referee and Dallas Cowboys players are not from 2024, but from 2022 and 2017, respectively. The Cowboys players shown are not wearing the same color jersey as they wore during their late August 2024 pre-season game. A Google search provided no evidence that an NFL referee had expelled any NFL players for kneeling during this time period.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on Facebook on September 3, 2024. It stated:
Football World Shocked: NFL Referee Shocked By Expelling 10 Players For Kneeling During National Anthem Last Week.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Sep 9 18:01:33 2024 UTC)
The September 3, 2024, claim, which refers to "last week," implies that it is referring to a pre-season game. "Last week" would mean the week of August 25 - August 31, 2024.
According to the official NFL website (archived here), the Cowboys did not play during this period. The Cowboys' last pre-season game occurred on August 24, 2024.
The post's lefthand image, however, does not show a referee from that game. It shows a 2022 shot of NFL referee Carl Cheffers by USA Today (archived here). Cheffers did not referee the Cowboys' August 24, 2024 pre-season game, according to ESPN.
The post's righthand image features the white-shirted Dallas Cowboys with owner Jerry Jones.
AP coverage of the August 24, 2024, game (archived here), however, shows that the Cowboys played in dark blue jerseys, not in the white jerseys seen in the claim's image.
That image dates from 2017. The uncropped original photo can be seen in USA Today (archived here) and Global News' 2017 coverage of the Dallas Cowboys.
A Google search (archived here), using keywords from the claim, showed no evidence that NFL players had been expelled from the league in late August 2024 for kneeling during the national anthem. The search only showed proof of other debunks of this claim.
If an NFL referree had expelled Dallas Cowboy players for kneeling during a game, international media would have covered it extensively.
Lead Stories contacted the NFL for comment and will update this fact check if it receives a response.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about football players kneeling during the U.S. national anthem can be found here.
