Fact Check: Yes, football player stood alone for the national anthem, but it was by mistake

The claim: Football player stood alone during the national anthem while his team stayed in the locker room

The story of how an NFL player stood alone during the playing of the national anthem before a 2017 game has resurfaced online, but a Facebook post fumbles the facts.

“If you want to make any football player really famous. Let it be this man,” reads the text in a July 2 Facebook post. “He came out and stood alone while his whole team stood in the locker room. He’s a veteran and did 3 tours in Iraq. Make him famous. His name is Alejandro Villanueva! A real American patriot!”

The post drew more than 7,200 likes and 2,100 shares in the first week. Some users made comments such as, “Never be ashamed of being a proud American. Thank you for your service,” but others knew the story was misleading.

Villanueva was standing alone during the anthem, but it was the result of a miscommunication, USA TODAY reported.

USA TODAY reached out to the user for comment.

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Villanueva accidentally stood outside the tunnel

Villanueva was seen alone as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played before a September 2017 game between the Steelers and the Chicago Bears, ESPN reported.

The team had made a unified decision to stay inside the stadium tunnel following former President Donald Trump’s comments about NFL players protesting during the anthem, USA TODAY reported.

Villanueva moved to a vantage point where he could see the flag, according to ESPN. He tried to signal his team to join him, but with the commotion from a previous celebration they were unable to come out. At this point the anthem had started playing and he decided “walking back to his teammates would have looked extremely bad,” so he stood alone.

He said what happened was his fault.

Villanueva said he felt embarrassed seeing the image of him standing alone because it seemed like the rest of the team was not behind him, and “that’s absolutely wrong,” ESPN reported.

Story continues

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USA TODAY reached out to the Steelers for comment.

Our rating: Partly false

The claim that a football player stood alone during the national anthem while his team stayed in the locker room is PARTLY FALSE, based on our research. The Steelers had agreed to stay inside the stadium tunnel and were not in the locker room during the anthem. Villanueva said he was caught in an awkward situation as he walked to the edge of the tunnel to get a look at the flag and unintentionally left his team behind.

Our fact-checking sources:

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact Check: NFL’s Alejandro Villanueva alone by mistake during anthem