No, an NFL player did not burn the American flag in his team’s locker room this week.
The photograph purportedly showing Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett torching the banner in front of his cheering teammates is totally fake.
The bogus photo began circulating online following President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on NFL players who protest racial injustice and police brutality by taking a knee during the national anthem.
The “Vets for Trump” Facebook page shared the image on Thursday, according to myth-debunking website Snopes.com. The Facebook page has since deleted the post, but the fake photo has spread to multiple other accounts.
The picture, however, is actually a doctored version of this image that the NFL team tweeted of Bennett performing a victory dance in January 2016:
During a CNN town hall on Thursday, Bennett said he hoped the kneeling protests would “challenge every American” to “treat people better.”
“That really is what it’s about,” he said. “It’s about treating people like human beings. That’s the first step.”