Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills said he doesn't regret criticizing team owner Stephen Ross for offering to host a fundraiser for President Donald Trump while also running a foundation that pledges to fight for equality.
"Someone has to have enough courage to let him know he can't play both sides of this," Stills said Thursday after the Dolphins' preseason opener, according to ESPN's Cameron Wolfe.
"It's something that I can look back on and say I made the right decision. Maybe I shouldn't have done it on social media, but I did. If you're going to associate yourself with bad people, then people are going to know about it. I put it out there for everybody to see it. If you say you're going to be about something, let's be about it."
Stills, one of the more active players in the NFL when it comes to social action, tweeted his feelings about the location of the fundraiser Wednesday. He posted a screenshot of Ross' non-profit website, which says it pushes for equality in athletic spaces.
"The tweet doesn't, like, put me against Mr. Ross," Stills added. "I don't have any hard feelings toward him. There's no, like, beef. It's just like, 'Hey, these two things don't align. And maybe somebody else hasn't told you, but I'm letting you know.' It's important to me that the work that we're doing isn't just lip service. It's real. Everything that I do has been real from the very beginning. And it's going to be that way."
Stills said he's received five-to-10 death threats since posting the tweet. He also dealt with death threats while protesting police brutality and racial inequality during the national anthem before games in the past.
Ross defended his offer to host the Trump event in wake of the criticism, saying he's known the president for 40 years and doesn't agree with his stance on every issue.
Trump verbally attacked players like Stills when they began kneeling during the national anthem in 2016 and implored team owners to release players who did so.
