No, NFL referees are not ejecting players for kneeling | Fact check

An Aug. 19 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a picture of a Buffalo Bills player appearing to argue with referees.
“NFL Referees were given the authority to disqualify players for anthem kneeling,” reads the post’s caption. “So far they’ve tossed five of them. ‘The league isn’t tolerating it anymore.’”
The post, which includes a link to an article about the supposed change, was shared more than 60 times in one day. Other Facebook postsalso shared the claim.
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A spokesperson from the NFL refuted the claim. It originated on a satirical website but has since been reposted without a satire disclaimer.
Since 2016, kneeling during the national anthem at sporting events has been a common way for athletes to protest against racial inequality. In 2018, the NFL instituted a policy that prohibited players from kneeling during the national anthem, but the league reversed that decision in 2020.
The Facebook post’s linked article – shared ahead of Week 3 of the NFL preseason – contends that referees ejected a player in Buffalo for kneeling.
But Tim Schlittner, spokesperson for the NFL, told USA TODAY that the claim is false. There is likewise no credible news reporting about NFL referees being granted new powers to eject players for kneeling or of any players being ejected from games for kneeling.
The claim was first shared by America’s Last Line of Defense, a satirical network of social media accounts and websites, in November 2023. Its satirical article includes the same image as the one shared in the Facebook post.
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But the Aug. 19 Facebook post does not contain a satire disclaimer like those from America’s Last Line of Defense.
It’s an example of what could be called “stolen satire,” where claims written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
USA TODAY has debunked several false claims related to professional athletes kneeling, including that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told his team to kneel during the national anthem, that Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin banned his team from kneeling and that NFL coaches unanimously voted to ban kneeling in the league.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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