Drew Brees addresses Bible video controversy from Saints locker room

The Saints quarterback spoke Thursday at the beginning of his weekly in-season press conference.

METAIRIE, La. — Saints quarterback Drew Brees said Thursday he was not aware of the reported anti-LGBTQ stance held by a lobbying organization for which he filmed a promotional video.

The promotional video was posted Aug. 29 by a lobbying organization called Focus on the Family. The video featured Brees, who asked students to bring a Bible to school as part of a national promotion.

"I was not aware of any of the things they said about them lobbying for anti-gay, or any type of messaging, or inequality or any type of hate-related stuff," Brees said during his first weekly in-season press conference for the 2019 season. "I was not aware of that at all."

Big Easy Magazine reported on the organization's anti-LGBTQ funding in a story posted Tuesday. The headline to the story identified the organization’s discriminatory stance.

In the video, Brees referenced a favored Bible verse and asked students to bring a Bible to school Oct. 3.

"The video itself was just focused on national Bring Your Bible to School Day," Brees said. "It was not promoting any group. Certainly not promoting any group that is associated with that type of behavior. I know there are, unfortunately, there are Christian organizations that are involved with that kind of thing. 

"To me, that is totally against what being a Christian is all about. Being a Christian is love, it's forgiveness. It's respecting all. It's accepting all. It's everything I said in the video that hopefully you guys saw and everybody else will."

Also Thursday, Brees posted an Instagram video in which he said he lives "by two very simple Christian fundamentals, and that is love the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul; and love your neighbors as yourself. 

"The first one is very self explanatory, the second one, love your neighbors yourself, what does that mean to me? It means love all, respect all and accept all. So that is actually how I live my life. That is what I try to do with my family, with my teammates, with people in my community, with my friends, all people. No matter your race, your color, your religious preference, your sexual orientation, your political beliefs, it doesn’t matter."