evidence: Do NFL referees now have the authority to disqualify players for kneeling in protest during the national anthem? No, that's not true: This claim comes from a satirical website that has a history of fabricating content surrounding popular topics. The site carries a disclaimer that states, "Everything on this website is fiction." Lead Stories found no credible reports about what would be a newsworthy rule-change if it actually had happened. [...] The post on Facebook has a link to a story (archived here) on the website Dunning-Kruger Times with the headline, "Five NFL Players Removed From Their Games Under League's New 'No Anthem Kneeling' Rule." The story about NFL referees having the authority to remove players for kneeling during the national anthem is completely fabricated, as are the other stories on the website. [...] A Google search (archived here) using the keywords "nfl refs remove players kneeling during national anthem," yielded zero results for any credible news stories. A similar search of the NFL's official website yielded no authentic reports about the disqualification rule.