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Michael Sam Has Profane Reason You Shouldn't Vote Trump

Michael Sam Has Profane Reason You Shouldn't Vote Trump

Michael Sam

“If you want to vote for someone who has LGBT rights [in mind], vote for Hillary,” Sam told TMZ Sports. 

Michael Sam didn't pull any punches when discussing Donald Trump over the holiday weekend.

In a 2014 appearance on Fox News, Trump criticized Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted in the National Football League, for sharing an on-screen kiss with his boyfriend after learning that he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams. After getting the call, Sam broke down in tears live on ESPN and embraced his then-boyfriend, Vito Cammisano, sharing a celebratory and emotional smooch.

"I've heard many people -- I'm not even speaking for myself, but I've heard many people that thought the display after he was chosen was inappropriate," the billionaire CEO told the network's Fox and Friends program. "And whether or not it was, I don't know. But it was certainly out there a little bit."

"I haven't seen anything like that in a while," Trump added. "He was really going at it."

TMZ Sports asked the former pro footballer his thoughts on the presumptive Republican nominee's reaction Monday. "He's an asshole," Sam responded.

Sam faced widespread homophobic backlash for the display. Former New York Giants player Derrick Ward tweeted in response, "I'm sorry but that Michael Sam is no bueno for doing that on national tv. ... I can't believe ESPN even allowed that to happen."

Don Jones, a safety who played for the Miami Dolphins at the time, further called the kiss "horrible." Jones deleted the tweets from which his comments originated and apologized, but he was nonetheless fined an "undisclosed amount" by the Dolphins and "excused... from the team," as ESPN reports. In order to return, Jones had to "undergo educational training."

According to Trump, that punishment was a sign political correctness had gone too far.

"I think it's a pretty tough reaction," he said of Jones's punishment. "We've become so politically correct in this country that the country is going to hell. People are afraid to talk. They're afraid to express their own thoughts."

Trump, who remains the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency, also claimed that the NFL went after Jones, but not those who criticized Tim Tebow's religious beliefs. The former Denver Broncos player, now a free agent, is a devout evangelical Christian.

"I guess there must be [a double standard] because Tim Tebow went through hell," Trump said. "They went after him like crazy."

According to TMZ, Trump recently brought up the 2014 controversy -- and his own response -- in a televised interview, but Sportsnaut notes that assertion is "false." "That was, like, years ago," Sam said.

The former NFL player, though, noted that the businessman has changed little since. When asked if LGBT voters should back Trump, who has claimed that he is the "real friend" to the community, Sam shook his head. He threw his support behind presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton instead.

"If you want to vote for someone who has LGBT rights [in mind], vote for Hillary," he said.

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