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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart on Wednesday condemned the NFL players who have kneeled during the national anthem, saying they got their anti-American views from universities.

“The players represented by this organization behind me are not heroes,” Stewart said at a news conference in Washington outside the NFL Players Association. “They are overpaid, arrogant, disrespectful, ungrateful, unpatriotic.”

He added: “Disrespect for our country starts with universities.”

Some NFL players, mostly African-Americans, last year joined a protest by then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the national anthem in protest of police brutality.

On Sunday, many more players, coaches and even Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined in some type of protest or locked arms before or during the national anthem in response to comments from President Donald Trump in Alabama on Friday saying NFL players who protested during the anthem should be fired.

Stewart, the former chairman of Trump’s campaign in Virginia who is running for the GOP nomination to go up against Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., next year, said he sided with Trump.