Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has worked hard over the years to present a polished, safe, inoffensive image.
But while getting his hair cut yesterday, he let his hair down a little.
Via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, Wilson posted a Facebook Live message from a barber’s chair, in which he bemoaned the current state of our country under President Donald Trump, and begged Barack Obama to come back.
The four-minute video began with him saying the President’s immigration policy had created a difficult environment.
“Despite anybody’s political issues or views, everybody has a right to choose who they want to vote for,’’ Wilson said. “But this thing is getting out of hand — getting out of hand, people.
“Just so you know, I voted for Hillary [Clinton]. But when you think about it’s only been two weeks right? Or even less. We’ve got to attack this issue here. So basically, I think that when you think about all the negativity that’s happened within a 10-day period, however many days it’s been, it’s already too much. It’s already crazy. It’s already affecting people’s hearts and souls and lives in such a negative way, in my opinion. . . .
“We go to LAX [Los Angeles] airport and there are people all over the place fighting for their lives and protesting and all the protests that have gone on, all the protests that have gone on in the African-American community, obviously the Muslim community, too. If we are going to be a nation that says we are equal, we have to be equal. Obviously being smart and all that kind of stuff. But you also have to be able to treat people fairly, have to be able to love everyone. And I know from even my own faith, the Christian faith, you still have to love everybody, no matter what our issues are, we still have to find ways to love people and care for people, and so I think that’s the thing that’s been crazy already.
“I don’t even know if he’s going to be able last four years, in my opinion. You don’t want to wish bad upon anybody because if he doesn’t last four years that means that something went wrong. So hopefully nothing goes wrong anymore than what it’s already doing. But it’s just been a crazy 10 days already and you know. . . . ’’
The message was kind of startling not for its passion or its articulation, but its mere presence. Wilson has taken great pains to be the most vanilla quarterback in the NFL, and having him step so far out of the lanes he had previously stayed in was a surprise.
