Who RBG Thinks Is 'Dumb': NFL Anthem Protesters

Since NFL player Colin Kaepernick first refused to stand for the national anthem in August, he (and other protesters in the sports arena who've followed suit) has had his share of supporters and detractors. Count Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the latter category after a Yahoo interview Monday with Katie Couric in which she was asked about the patriotically-tinged hubbub. "I think it's dumb and disrespectful," she said, per Mediaite, adding she'd say the same thing about burning an American flag. "I think it's a terrible thing to do, but I wouldn't lock a person up for doing it."

She also calls such protests "arrogant," though she adds, per the Independent, that it would be "dangerous to arrest people for conduct that doesn’t jeopardize the health or well-being of other people." Barry Petchesky at Deadspin labels her commentary as "gross," saying, "And here I was thinking these athletes have played a pretty significant role in reigniting an important national discussion." A (somewhat) sympathetic commenter on the site, however, notes: "Eh, I know I probably shouldn't, but I tend to give people who lived through WW2 a little bit of leeway on being stupid about this sort of thing." (Watch the interview with Couric at Yahoo.)