San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler to skip national anthem after Uvalde

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” he told reporters.

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler speaks at a season-ending news conference in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) (Jeff Chiu, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler said Friday he will refuse to take the field for the pregame national anthem “going forward,” following the massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

“I don’t plan on coming out for the anthem going forward until I feel better about the direction of our country,” Kapler told reporters Friday before the Giants played the Cincinnati Reds.

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Kapler elaborated in a blog post published Friday on his website. In the post — titled “Home of the Brave?” — he appeared to blast the police response to the massacre as well as the U.S. gun lobby and the political status quo.

Read more on NBC News here.