Updated at 4:30 p.m. with NBC/Marist poll showing tight race.
WASHINGTON — The culture clash over NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem has hit the Senate race in Texas, where Rep. Beto O'Rourke's defense of the protests has drawn viral attention — and a sharp rebuke from incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz.
Celebrities and sports figures have lauded O'Rourke for his willingness to stand up for the players, who face ongoing criticism from President Donald Trump and others on the right.
The moment occurred at an Aug. 10 town hall event in Houston.
A man who identified himself as a veteran from a family of veterans told the congressman that he is deeply offended when football players take a knee as the "Star-Spangled Banner" is played before each game. He asked if O'Rourke agreed.
"My short answer is no, I don't think it's disrespectful," the El Paso Democrat replied. "Reasonable people can disagree on this issue — let's begin there. And it makes them no less American for them to come down on a different conclusion."
He then invoked the nonviolent civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr., noting that players started the protests to call attention to police brutality involving unarmed black men, women and children.
"So, nonviolently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it," O'Rourke said. "That is why they are doing it. And I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully stand up, or take a knee, for your rights, anytime, anywhere, in any place."
The crowd applauded and cheered. Video of the exchange has been watched online more than 6 million times, mostly in the last week.
At a campaign stop last week in Corpus Christi, Cruz took his rival to task, winning cheers from a crowd of about 500 for a different take on the issue.
"When Beto O'Rourke says he can't think of anything more American [than players taking a knee], well I got to tell you, I can," the senator said, according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
The race is tight, and an NBC News/Marist poll released Wednesday afternoon provided fresh evidence, with O'Rourke trailing by just four percentage points. A Quinnipiac University Poll released Aug. 1 showed him lagging by six points, and a survey the same day from Texas Lyceum shows the challenger within two points.
In fund-raising appeals, Cruz warns supporters that the race is within two points, and calls his rival "a darling of Hollywood and the media."
The Democrat's remarks on the NFL controversy have caught the eye of some Hollywood denizens. On Wednesday, Ellen DeGeneres, the liberal TV host, and the actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus both lauded his stance. So did Kurt Warner, a Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the St. Louis Rams, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals.
"Every past & present fan of NFL - please listen - I believe he hit the nail on the head & he did so not by dividing the 2 sides but by joining them together in realizing the freedoms of our country have been forged by soldiers but also by many others who have fought in diff ways!" Warner wrote, tweeting out the mostly widely circulated clip of the congressman's comments.
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