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‘All-American’ rocker John Mellencamp seen sitting during national anthem at NFL game, eating popcorn

November 21, 2022 | | Print Article

John Mellencamp may have spent his career boasting about his small-town roots, but Sunday while attending an Indianapolis Colts home game he was caught giving off big Hollywood vibes during the pregame rendition of the national anthem.

The Philadelphia Eagles clashed with the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium to extend their record to 9-1 on the season with a comeback fourth quarter ending the game 17-16. But as sideline coaches and staff traded away their traditional team colors to sport military green as part of the NFL’s Salute to Service, the 71-year-old musician from Indiana didn’t see fit to honor America’s heroes with the simple courtesy of standing.

A “mister dent” on Twitter posted an image of Mellencamp snacking on what appeared to be popcorn during the national anthem and tagged Outkick’s Dan Dakich writing, “Can we get a comment on John Mellencamp being too lazy to STAND for our National Anthem.”

Dakich obliged and wrote back, “Mellencamp is one of America’s Greatest Frauds…always has been.”

Outkick’s Armando Salguero covered the story and pointed out that the musician has “done some nice charitable things such as help found Farm Aid. So Mellencamp probably isn’t a bad guy. But on Sunday afternoon, prior to the NFL game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Indianapolis Colts, Mellencamp apparently decided standing for the national anthem was too much trouble.”

“So,” Salguero continued, “he sat in his luxury seat at Lucas Oil Stadium while most of the 66,241 present stood for the national anthem.”

This wasn’t the singer’s first time showing his disdain for pregame tributes as he had been an open supporter of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s on-field kneeling protest along with Black Lives Matter.

“Taking the knee started purely and simply as a protest of racial and social injustice,” Mellencamp told the Associated Press in 2018 when, days before Super Bowl LI he had performed on the “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” took a knee and raised his fist. “Sadly, it was politicized by the current administration (then-President Donald Trump). The song is simple and the protest is pure.”

However, the only thing that appeared pure Sunday was the distaste that fans had for Mellencamp’s perceived show of disrespect where he didn’t even pause snacking to at least observe the tradition in silence.

Of course, leftists were quick to come to the defense of Mellencamp as they too hold ideals of honor, service and patriotism in utter contempt, but there was no argument that they could present that was not readily refuted by Americans sick and tired of seeing the nation’s values and founding principles disregarded in favor of comfort.

Others pointed to the child who appeared to have even more contempt for the tradition with one leg up and his head in his hand asking why his disrespect was ignored in favor of focusing on Mellencamp’s as they continued to miss the point. It is up to those who’ve come before to lead by example and, unfortunately, elitists like Mellancamp have continued to miss out on the teachable moments.

Kevin Haggerty
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