President Donald Trump has found himself in conflict with two of the four major sports leagues in the country this week, and it has left fans with mixed reactions.

During a rally in Alabama at which Trump endorsed Luther Strange for the Senate, he also opened up about his feelings on players like Colin Kaepernick — who have protested the national anthem prior to NFL games.

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“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘get that son of a b**** off the field right now. Out. He’s fired. He’s fired!'” said the president.

Of course, Trump was met with some praise — like the cheers from his supporters after the statement — and some backlash online, since the mixing of politics and sports was already a hot-button topic well before he weighed in on it.

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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded to Trump’s comments in a Saturday statement. He said the president’s words were “divisive” and showed a “lack of respect” for the NFL and its players.

“Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities,” Goodell said.

Over the past 13 months, fans across the country have heavily debated the topic as to whether or not players should be kneeling during the national anthem — and ensuing boycotts from both sides of the argument have even helped lead to a ratings drop for the NFL of over 10 percent on television, over the course of the first two weeks of the new season.

On one side, there’s a group of fans who are boycotting the league because there are still players like Marshawn Lynch and Michael Bennett who continue to sit during the national anthem. These fans do not want to see pro-athletes politicize a football game — or they simply disagree with the message.

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On the other side, there are fans who are boycotting the league because no team has signed Colin Kaepernick, and they supported his controversial kneeling during the national anthem. This group of fans feels as if there’s absolutely a place where sports and politics should intersect.

Related: George Foreman Takes Down Colin Kaepernick and Kevin Durant

Even though there are these two strong opposing opinions, the vast majority of fans who are watching the league for the on-field product will continue tuning in to watch the sport.

The president’s other major sports conflict arose on Saturday morning when he tweeted that he would be retracting the invitation to Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry to come to the White House.

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Trump’s tweet came a day after Curry revealed he would have little interest in visiting the White House and meeting the president. In months prior, the Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr, had criticized the president, and the team’s other top player, Kevin Durant, announced he would also skip a potential White House visit. White House visits have been a trend for championship winning sports teams since John F. Kennedy’s administration.

After Trump’s tweet, the Golden State Warriors released a statement saying they would not be visiting the White House or the president.

“We believe there is nothing more American than our citizens having the right to express themselves freely on matters important to them,” the team said.

They also said, “We’re disappointed that we did not have an opportunity during this process to share our views or have open dialogue on issues impacting our communities that we felt would be important to raise.” The team said they will still visit Washington D.C., and they will make their February trip a chance to “celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion — values we embrace as an organization.”

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Curry had specifically said he would potentially skip a White House visit to show he doesn’t stand for some of the president’s actions and words.

The star player said, according to The LA Times, that skipping a White House visit would show “that we don’t stand for basically what our president has — the things that he’s said and the things that he hasn’t said in the right times, that we won’t stand for it.”

Other athletes are weighing in on the divide between the NBA and the president. Basketball star LeBron James took to Twitter to chime in and called the president a “bum.”

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Lakers star Kobe Bryant also took to Twitter and said the president’s name “alone creates division and anger.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver also released his own statement regarding the president and the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.

“I was in favor of the team visiting the White House and thought it was a rare opportunity for these players to share their views directly with the President,” Silver said. “I am disappointed that that will not happen. More importantly, I am proud of our players for taking an active role in their communities and continuing to speak out on critically important issues.”

There is no clear way in terms of how a player can win the White House situation. There is always going to be a large percentage of fans who think the players should put views aside and visit the White House because it is a tradition older than any player active in the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL. On the flip side, others do not want to see their favorite athletes meet with someone they disagree with politically. This is also an issue some athletes have to think about when making their decision — how their fans may perceive their move.

The president seemed unfazed by the blowback to his various comments as he took to Twitter again on Saturday and doubled down — at least on his NFL comments.

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Last month, former heavyweight champion boxer George Foreman brought an interesting perspective to the White House situation when he said he regretted skipping a White House visit nearly 50 years ago after winning an Olympic Gold Medal in 1968. He said he skipped the visit because he was not a fan of Richard Nixon’s views at the time. Looking back, Foreman revealed he wished he had the opportunity to meet Nixon and take a picture with him.

“Now I have all these photographs with all of the presidents previous and I don’t have one with Nixon because I was kind of ignorant,” Foreman said on the “Offended America” podcast. “The job corps is still in existence. I wish I had gone one time to take a photograph with the President of the United States to go along with the rest of them.”

Related: ESPN Is Driving Away Viewers for This Reason

Foreman also criticized those sitting down during the national anthem — such as Kaepernick. “A lot of [Americans] died in war so that they could have that privilege,” he said. “We all came in the era where we were patriotic. The greatest day of my life was when I put on the colors, representing the United States.”

Foreman added, “I love the United States, and I love the flag.”

It remains to be seen how any of these athletes will feel when they reach Foreman’s stage in life, but what is clear now is that these small squabbles turning into such heated debates shows how deeply divided our country is culturally and politically. Now even sports are mired in political division and debates.

(photo credit, homepage images: Keith Allison, Flickr / Youtube; photo credit, article images: Mike D., Flickr / Youtube)