Fox News falsely implies praying Eagles were protesting, and the players aren't having it

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Updated: 11:07 a.m.

On Tuesday morning, Fox News ran a piece it then Tweeted out, about President Donald Trump’s disinviting the Eagles to the White House “due to the national anthem controversy.”

As the anchor delivers the story, images of Eagles players are shown on screen. The first three photos are of players (Zach Ertz, Corey Clement and Jordan Matthews) kneeling — but they’re praying before games, not kneeling during the national anthem. The fourth is of Malcolm Jenkins and Rodney McLeod raising their fists during the national anthem, while Chris Long puts his arm around Jenkins.

Ertz and Long responded on their personal Twitter accounts and accused the outlet of pushing the agenda of the president with false information.

In his statement on Monday, Trump insinuated that members of the Eagles did not ‘proudly stand for the anthem.’ During the 2017 season, every member of the Eagles stood during the anthem. In the preseason, veteran corner Ron Brooks did kneel, but he didn’t make the roster for the regular season.

Eventually, Fox News issued an apology, but only well after the piece aired on TV and made its rounds on Twitter. 

Fox News has deleted the orginal tweet. 

But here’s exactly when each photo shown in the story was taken.

The first photo shown isn’t even from last season, it shows Jordan Matthews, who was traded by the Eagles prior to the 2017 season.

The second photo, showing Zach Ertz and Corey Clement was taken before the Eagles played the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Oct. 8. Long is seen running in the background and was later photographed during the anthem with his arm around Jenkins. This photo could not have been taken during the national anthem.

The third photo is of Zach Ertz from Nov. 26, kneeling before the game against the Chicago Bears. This photo was taken before the game and not during the anthem.

The final photo shows Long, Jenkins and McLeod standing on the field during the anthem.

The Eagles will not be going to the White House on Tuesday. Instead, they will be holding a light OTA practice as the NovaCare Complex (see story).

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