NOTTINGHAM Forest striker Lyle Taylor has revealed why he refuses to take the knee before matches.
Taylor claimed he does not ‘blindly support’ Black Lives Matter and urged people to look at what the organisation stands for.
The ex-Charlton forward did not take part in the protest ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Cardiff.
He insisted the message behind the gesture has been ‘diluted’ for months now.
Taylor, 30, said: “My support for what it is we are trying to achieve is absolute.
“But I do not support Black Lives Matter as an institution, as an organisation.
“I’d request anyone who blindly supports Black Lives Matter to have a look to what that organisation does and what it stands for – because it’s scandalous the fact that the whole world and the whole world’s media got behind Black Lives Matter.
“Standing behind Black Lives Matter, all the big institutions, all of them sitting there saying Black Lives Matter, not a good idea.
“I’ve done my fair amount of research into it. The message is 100 per cent important, don’t get me wrong on that.
“Black lives do matter but you will never hear me saying Black Lives Matter again in reference to that organisation.
“The message has been diluted beyond belief. If we’d stopped three months ago it would’ve been. It’s gone past the point. What’s actually happening?
“Because every week I turn on the news and another player has been racially abused.
“There’s channels and there’s avenues we have to go down to do this the right way.”
Taylor revealed he has not been criticised for his decision and has the blessing of manager Chris Hughton not to kneel.
Taylor added: “I did have a conversation with the manager and I said, ‘Am I okay to do as I please and stand and not take a knee?’
“He said, ‘Yes, if that’s what you believe in then that’s your decision, you’re a grown man, you can make your own decisions’.
“So he’s allowed me to do that. Look, if people ask me my opinion, you’ll know I’m not scared of voicing them.”
Taylor revealed progress has been made in a case in which he was racially abused online.
He added: “It’s been with the police for a good eight months. It’s still going on. It’s not that difficult. They’ve found the person now.
“I got an email one or two weeks ago saying we’ve found him and he’s going to be arrested and interviewed.
“Jesus Christ! I said I could probably pay someone £200 and have them find the IP address of the person right now. Take them 10 minutes.
“You have some people saying you can’t say black. You can’t say mixed race because it’s now dual heritage. No, no. I’m mixed race. My mum is white and my dad is black.”
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