Katie Couric withheld RBGs harsh comments on anthem kneelers to ‘protect’ her

Journalist and author Katie Couric, in her new memoir, has admitted that she withheld late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s harshest comments on kneeling during the national anthem, which she made during an interview in 2016. Couric said she edited the comments in an effort to “protect” the Ginsburg.  For those unversed, the interview came at a time when former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to kneel during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality. Several other professional athletes followed him. 

Couric wrote in her memoir, “Going There,” that she felt that Ginsburg may not have totally gotten what Couric was asking her. Ginsburg was 83 years old during the incident. 

She “was elderly and probably didn’t understand the question,” Couric explained in the memoir, which is out on October 26.

While the interview, which was published by Yahoo News, did include the late Supreme Court justice’s comments that not standing during the national anthem was an act of protest was “dumb and disrespectful,” the article did not include her strongest condemnations of the act.

Also Read: Donald Trump booed while paying respect to Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Not standing for the anthem shows a “contempt for a government that has made it possible for their parents and grandparents to live a decent life … Which they probably could not have lived in the places they came from … as they became older, they realize that this was youthful folly. And that’s why education is important,” Ginsburg told Couric at the time.

“I think it’s a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn’t lock a person up for doing it. I would point out how ridiculous it seems to me to do such an act.”

Couric also suggested Ginsburg’s office had some influence on the final product and also called herself a “big RBG fan.”

Meanwhile, several people lashed out at Couric for editing the interview.

“Think of how much damage to our country could’ve been avoided if such statements from an arch-leftist like RBG weren’t suppressed,” one person wrote.

“Well she’s notorious for this sort of thing,” another person tweeted.