John Calipari Address…..The Confederate Flag

By JOSH NEWMAN

The SEC held its summer teleconference on Monday morning, which included all 14 head coaches and league commissioner Greg Sankey.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari was up first and aside from the obvious NBA Draft, recruiting and injury questions, he was hit with a question about one of the nation’s hot-button topics right now, the Confederate flag.

“Really? Obviously it offends a portion of our society, so people are deciding to take them down. That’s how I feel,” Calipari said. 

Was just asked a question on a bball conference call about the confederate flag. I don’t want any confusion. I think we should take it down!

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) June 29, 2015

After Dylann Roof murdered nine people in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. on June 17, it was found that part of his inspiration came from the Confederate flag. That led to the Civil War symbol being called into question and whether or not it should still be displayed, 150 years after the Civil War ended.

“They offend, and I would say do it, yeah,” Calipari said when asked if he thinks the flags should be taken down. “Does our state use the Confederate flag, Jerry (Tipton)? (Statue of a Confederate general at the old courthouse in Lexington and a statue of Jefferson Davis at the capital in Frankfort.) Wow. Since I’m not running for public office, I will let the powers that be decide those matters. I was thinking about running for president and I was discouraged from that, so …”

Photo: USA Today Sports

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