FRISCO – FC Dallas might’ve beat Sporting Kansas City for a second straight time this season but it was a former players' comments that dominated FCD’s week.
Former FC Dallas defender Reggie Cannon made headlines earlier this week after his conversation on with DaMarcus Beasley and Oguchi Onyewu on The Crack Podcast was released.
Cannon, who recently transferred to Boavista FC in Portugal from FCD, said FCD officials had prepared a statement for him to apologize for the comments he made after the Aug. 12 game against Nashville SC regarding fans who booed players for kneeling during the national anthem.
“They had written out a statement for me that read, 'I apologize to the fans I offended. My choice of words, I like to think that I let the heat of the moment get to me,” Cannon said on the podcast.
FCD president and owner Dan Hunt appeared on the team broadcast before the FCD-Sporting Kansas City game — where players on both starting formations along with referees knelt during the national anthem — to address Cannon’s comments.
“First I want to be clear on this — there were no written comments that were pushed upon Reggie,” Hunt said. “That is inconsistent with our values here at this club.”
After his comments went viral on social media, Cannon allegedly received death threats. FCD said in a statement then that it supported players' and fans' rights to peacefully protest.
Hunt said the team met with Cannon to “talk to him about upcoming media opportunities and how he wanted to go through this and provide different opportunities” but said Cannon declined.
On the podcast, Cannon said he wasn’t going to apologize for his comments.
“With all respect, I’m not apologizing. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Cannon said on the podcast. We all made the decision [to kneel].' And I said, ‘What they did was disgusting.’ I never called anyone disgusting. The action that you guys chose to do was disgusting because you don’t understand why we’re kneeling."
With Cannon’s departure coming shortly after the incident, there was speculation by national and international media as well as those who follow the sport that Cannon transferred to Boavista FC because of what Cannon said in the podcast.
Hunt said Cannon’s transfer to Europe had been in the works months before the Aug. 12 incident and even before the pandemic began and a deal with Boavista to send the defender abroad arose.
On the field, FCD beat Sporting Kansas City 1-0 to get is first win in almost a month. FCD’s last win also game against Sporting Kansas City on the road on Sept. 19.
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