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Kaepernick says NFL's anti-racism efforts 'performative,' league disputes claims
Colin Kaepernick says he is still blackballed by the NFL and calls the league's response to racial injustice 'performative.' The NFL says the issues he raised remain important and points to its social justice contributions.
By Tertius News AI Desk2 distinct · 3 mastheads · 3 articlesVersion 2Coverage Published
Kaepernick reiterates criticism of NFL
Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began kneeling during the S. national anthem a decade ago to protest police brutality, said he is still being blackballed by the NFL and no longer watches the "disingenuous" league. In a rare interview with NBC News, Kaepernick said the league's statements condemning racial injustice after the 2020 death of George Floyd had been "laughable" and that the NFL has not changed.
"I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well," Kaepernick said. "I watch college football," he added.
Kaepernick, now 38, will release a part-memoir, part-manifesto this month titled "The Perilous Fight." The book is part of a media blitz that also includes a Netflix docuseries in which he compared the NFL scouting combine to a slave auction.
The 2020 Goodell video and Kaepernick's reaction
In 2020, amid nationwide protests following George Floyd's death, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a video in which he said the NFL condemned "racism and the systematic oppression of Black people." Goodell also issued a statement expressing regret for not heeding players' protests.
Kaepernick criticized Goodell's response as insincere. "His response through that video was only because of pressure from players, not because it was altruistic," Kaepernick said. He continued, "[Goodell's message was] so laughable, in my mind, and so disingenuous. We had been trying to address the issue that the NFL created with blackballing me for years. To come out and say we should have listened on the back of that — while I'm still actively trying to play in the NFL — it's so performative."
Kaepernick also dismissed the NFL's condemnation of racism as "performative."
The NFL's response
In response to the NBC interview, the NFL said the issues raised by Kaepernick "remain important to the league and deserving of continued attention and action." The league pointed to its work with the social justice initiative Inspire Change to "support meaningful progress," including more than US$575 million in contributions. Kaepernick said he does not believe the NFL has "materially changed."
Kaepernick's history with the NFL
Kaepernick was released by the 49ers in 2017, a year after his kneeling protest began, and has not played for an NFL team since. He believes the league colluded to exclude him. "There's not a definitive moment that I would point to," Kaepernick said. "Coming on the back of going to a Super Bowl, going to an NFC Championship, setting records, and not a single team would bring me in, even for a workout?"
Kaepernick said multiple NFL coaches, including then-Baltimore Ravens boss John Harbaugh, had explicitly told him they wanted to bring him in, but were "shut down from above." During his sole formal meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in summer 2017, Kaepernick said he was repeatedly asked about his political beliefs. The Seahawks did not respond to a request for comment.
The origin of the protest
In his book, Kaepernick describes how the idea to kneel on Sept. 1, 2016 came from his teammate Eric Reid. Inspired by his reading of Black liberation literature, Kaepernick had already drawn criticism for remaining seated during the anthem earlier that summer, but was looking for something more visually striking. Fans burned his jerseys, and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said Kaepernick "should find a country that works better for him."
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
Framing: Kaepernick’s own assertion of being blackballed by the NFL, without immediate league response. — sympathetic to Kaepernick’s perspective while noting the league’s rebuttal.
Facts Included:
Colin Kaepernick said he is still being blackballed by the NFL and no longer watches the 'disingenuous' league.
Kaepernick said the NFL’s statements condemning racial injustice after the 2020 death of George Floyd had been 'laughable'.
Kaepernick said, 'I’m not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well.'
Kaepernick said, 'I watch college football.'
Kaepernick was released by the 49ers in 2017 — a year after his kneeling protest began — and has not played for an NFL team since.
Kaepernick is 38 and will release a part-memoir, part-manifesto this month entitled 'The Perilous Fight.'
In the book, he describes how the idea to kneel on Sept. 1, 2016 came from his teammate Eric Reid.
Kaepernick had drawn flak for remaining seated during the anthem earlier that summer, but was looking for something more visually striking.
Fans burned his jerseys, and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said Kaepernick 'should find a country that works better for him.'
Kaepernick believes the league colluded to exclude him.
Kaepernick said multiple NFL coaches — including then-Baltimore Ravens boss John Harbaugh — had explicitly told him they wanted to bring him in, but were 'shut down from above.'
Kaepernick said during his sole formal meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in the summer of 2017 he was repeatedly asked about his political beliefs.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement expressing regret for not heeding its players’ protests.
Kaepernick said Goodell’s response 'was only because of pressure from players, not because it was altruistic.'
Kaepernick told NBC, 'To come out and say we should have listened on the back of that -- while I’m still actively trying to play in the NFL -- it’s so performative.'
The NFL said issues raised by Kaepernick 'remain important to the league and deserving of continued attention and action.'
The league pointed to its work with social justice initiative Inspire Change to 'support meaningful progress,' including more than US$575 million in contributions.
Kaepernick said he does not believe the NFL has 'materially changed.'
Framing: Highlights Kaepernick's criticism of the NFL as 'disingenuous' ten years after his protest. — Sympathetic to Kaepernick's perspective, while reporting the NFL's official response.
Facts Included:
Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality in the United States ten years ago.
Kaepernick said he is still being blackballed by the NFL and no longer watches the 'disingenuous' league.
Kaepernick said the NFL's statements condemning racial injustice after the 2020 death of George Floyd had been 'laughable'.
Kaepernick said the league has not changed.
Kaepernick was released by the 49ers in 2017.
Kaepernick has not played for an NFL team since 2017.
Kaepernick is now 38 years old.
Kaepernick will release a book titled 'The Perilous Fight' this month.
The idea to kneel came from teammate Eric Reid on September 1, 2016.
Kaepernick had drawn criticism for remaining seated during the national anthem earlier that summer.
Fans burned his jerseys.
Donald Trump said Kaepernick 'should find a country that works better for him.'
Kaepernick believes the league colluded to exclude him.
Kaepernick said multiple NFL coaches, including John Harbaugh, told him they wanted to bring him in but were 'shut down from above.'
During his sole formal meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in summer 2017, Kaepernick was repeatedly asked about his political beliefs.
The Seahawks did not respond to request for comment.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement expressing regret for not heeding players' protests after Floyd's murder.
Kaepernick said Goodell's response was 'only because of pressure from players, not because it was altruistic.'
The NFL said the issues raised by Kaepernick 'remain important to the league and deserving of continued attention and action.'
The league pointed to its work with social justice initiative Inspire Change, including more than $575 million in contributions.
Kaepernick said he does not believe the NFL has 'materially changed.'
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimColin Kaepernick, former NFL quarterback, said he is still being blackballed by the NFL and no longer watches the league, calling it 'disingenuous.'
ClaimKaepernick said: 'I'm not gonna support an organization that one, is actively blackballing me, but two, has targeted my brothers who have been protesting as part of this as well.'
ClaimKaepernick had drawn flak for remaining seated during the U.S. national anthem earlier that summer, but was looking for something more visually striking.
ClaimKaepernick said multiple NFL coaches, including then-Baltimore Ravens boss John Harbaugh, had explicitly told him they wanted to bring him in but were 'shut down from above.'
ClaimKaepernick said during his sole formal meeting with the Seattle Seahawks in the summer of 2017 he was repeatedly asked about his political beliefs.
ClaimFollowing vast protests in 2020 over George Floyd's murder by a police officer in Minneapolis, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a statement expressing regret for not heeding its players' protests.
ClaimKaepernick said, 'To come out and say we should have listened on the back of that — while I'm still actively trying to play in the NFL — it's so performative.'
ClaimIn response to the NBC interview, the NFL said issues raised by Kaepernick 'remain important to the league and deserving of continued attention and action.'
ClaimThe NFL pointed to its work with social justice initiative Inspire Change to 'support meaningful progress,' including more than US$575 million in contributions.
ClaimIn an interview with NBC News, Kaepernick criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over a video he released in 2020 amid nationwide protests following George Floyd's death.