The Houston Texans are reportedly arranging a protest before Sunday’s NFL game after the team’s owner referred to his players as “inmates running the prison” in a reference to protests during the national anthem.
ESPN reported that a majority of the team is expected to kneel prior to the game.
Bob McNair, the owner of the Texans, apologized for his comments over the weekend.
“I am truly sorry to the players for how this has impacted them and the perception that it has created of me, which could not be further from the truth,” McNair said, as reported by ESPN.
{mosads}The apology followed an ESPN The Magazine report about an NFL owners meeting that included McNair’s comment.
“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair was reported as saying at the meeting.
McNair’s comment comes amid a renewed monthlong controversy over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem.
President Trump ignited the firestorm in September after suggesting at a campaign rally in Alabama that NFL owners fire players who choose to kneel, rather than stand, during “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The remark from Trump led to widespread protests in the league.
McNair, who previously donated to the president’s inaugural committee, in a statement last month criticized Trump for the remarks.
“The NFL specifically, and football in general, has always unified our communities and families. The comments made by the President were divisive and counterproductive to what our country needs right now,” McNair said at the time.
— This report was updated at 8:34 a.m.