In two days, Antonio Cromartie went from taking a stand to getting stood up — but it was his wife who stood the tallest.
The 32-year-old cornerback joined the growing movement Sunday, when he brought the popularized national anthem protest overseas for the Colts game against the Jaguars at London’s Wembley Stadium. After the Colts lost 30-27 to the winless Jaguars, a game that saw Cromartie relegated to the bench in the second half for blowing coverage on wide receiver Allen Robinson’s touchdown reception, the team announced Tuesday it was releasing the veteran.
And the abuse didn’t stop there for Cromartie, who has been trolled relentlessly by Twitter users since he knelt and raised a fist during “The Star-Spangled Banner” Sunday. One commenter took his criticism to a vulgar and offensive — and grammatically incorrect — level, calling Cromartie the N-word and humiliating him for losing his job.
“Neal for the anthem now with your n—-r fist up!” the troll wrote. “Congrats you are like your bro’s now! A non working n—-r headed to jail”
Cromartie’s outspoken wife, Terricka, had enough of the insults and defended her husband in a response posted to her Instagram account.
“The World we live in… Smh it’s crazy how this is even tolerated on any page,” Terricka wrote. “It should be an automatic red flag. But the truth is the person who wrote this could be someone boss, your child’s teacher, a doctor, a nurse, your neighbor, your kids basketball coach, or your local police officer.
“The face is this is Our reality. And what’s sad is by kneeling and protesting in silence, for taking a humble approach you’re still threatened and disrespected. The National anthem wasn’t even written with African Americans in mind yet we serve this [country] and fight for it just like anyone else. … I couldn’t be more proud of you baby. I love you Mr. Cromartie.”