This piece was updated at 4:58 pm 9/5 to include a statement given from Drew Brees at a press conference Thursday afternoon, and at 5:55 pm 9/5 to provide the full video and transcript.
This afternoon, New Orleans Saints star quarterback Drew Brees posted a video on Instagram addressing the recent controversy surrounding a promotional video that he filmed for Bring Your Bible to School Day.
Bring Your Bible is an event organized and run by Focus on the Family, a Christian religious organization well-known for their anti-LGBTQ stance and their advocacy for what is known as “conversion therapy,” also called “reparative therapy.” Brees’ involvement with the organization since 2010 was documented in our original article on the subject.
In today’s video, shown below, Brees states that the headline of our article, “Drew Brees Records Video for Anti-LGBT Religious Organization,” was misleading for people regarding his association with Focus On The Family and the stance they take regarding the LGBTQ community.
Hopefully this sets the record straight with who I am and what I stand for. Love, Respect, and Accept ALL. I encourage you not to believe the negativity you read that says differently. It’s simply not true. Have a great day. pic.twitter.com/4RdTahE7EZ
— Drew Brees (@drewbrees) September 5, 2019
“Hello everyone. There’s been a lot of negativity spread about me in the LGBTQ community recently based upon a article that someone wrote with a very negative headline that I think led people to believe that somewhow I was aligned with an organization that was anti-LGBTQ and so on and so forth. I’d like to set the record straight. I live by two very simple Christian fundamentals, and that is: love the lord with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. I think the first one is very self-explanitory. The second one, ‘love your neighbor as yourself,’ what does that mean to me? That means love all, respect all, and accept all. So that is actually how I live my life. That is what I try to do with my family, with my teammates, with people in my community, with my friends. All people no matter your race, your color, your religious preference, your sexual orientation, your political beliefs, it doesn’t matter.
“So the fact that these rumors have been spread about me are completely untrue. What I did is I filmed a video recently that was encouraging kids to bring their bibles to school for ‘national Bring Your Bible To School day’. To bring their Bibles to school, to be able to live out your faith with confidence and I even gave one of my favorite bible verses. It was as simple as that. So I’m not sure why the negativity spread, or why people tried to rope me into certain negativity. I do not support any groups that discriminate or have their own agendas that are trying to promote inequality. Hopefully that set the record straight and we can all move on, because that’s not what I stand for. Have a great day.”
In the posted video, Brees does not address his long-standing association with the Focus On The Family, during which he has appeared on their radio show, in articles, and the aforementioned video.
In a later press conference, Brees stated that he wasn’t aware of any of the anti-LGBTQ activities of Focus On The Family and that his video for Bring Your Bible To School Day was, “Not promoting any group, certainly not promoting any group that is associated with that type of behavior.”
The Bring Your Bible To School event is organized and run by Focus On The Family.
Drew Brees when asked about if he knew what Focus on the Family stood for.. pic.twitter.com/5WG6CwEEqO
— Doug Mouton (@DMoutonWWL) September 5, 2019
Jenn Bentley is a freelance journalist and editor whose work has also been featured in publications such as Wander N.O. More, The High Tech Society, FansShare, Yahoo News, Examiner.com, and others. Follow her on Twitter: @JennBentley_
