Colin Kaepernick trashed the NFL’s reputation by kick starting a wave of anti-American displays during the national anthem.
Ratings are down as fans are furious over the players’ continued disrespect of the military.
But the latest stunt involving Kaepernick just blew up and it’s going to change everything.
Left-leaning GQ Magazine has named Kaepernick its “Citizen of the Year.”
They bestowed the “honor” upon him because he was the leader of the anti-American national anthem protests.
He was praised for using his platform to smear America as a racist nation.
They wrote:
“In 2013, Colin Kaepernick was on the cover of this magazine because he was one of the best football players in the world. In 2017, Colin Kaepernick is on GQ‘s cover once again—but this time it is because he isn’t playing football. And it’s not because he’s hurt, or because he’s broken any rules, or because he’s not good enough. Approximately 90 men are currently employed as quarterbacks in the NFL, as either starters or reserves, and Colin Kaepernick is better—indisputably, undeniably, flat-out better—than at least 70 of them. He is still, to this day, one of the most gifted quarterbacks on earth. And yet he has been locked out of the game he loves—blackballed—because of one simple gesture: He knelt during the playing of our national anthem. And he did it for a clear reason, one that has been lost in the yearlong storm that followed. He did it to protest systemic oppression and, more specifically, as he said repeatedly at the time, police brutality toward black people.
When we began discussing this GQ cover with Colin earlier this fall, he told us the reason he wanted to participate is that he wants to reclaim the narrative of his protest, which has been hijacked by a president eager to make this moment about himself. But Colin also made it clear to us that he intended to remain silent. As his public identity has begun to shift from football star to embattled activist, he has grown wise to the power of his silence. It has helped his story go around the world. It has even provoked the ire and ill temper of Donald Trump. Why talk now, when your detractors will only twist your words and use them against you? Why speak now, when silence has done so much?
At the same time, Colin is all too aware that silence creates a vacuum, and that if it doesn’t get filled somehow, someone else will fill it for him. In our many conversations with Colin about this project, we discussed the history of athletes and civil rights, and the indelible moments it called to mind, and we decided that we’d use photography—the power of imagery and iconography—to do the talking.”
Kaepernick responded by thanking the magazine for the award.
I'm honored to be recognized by @GQMagazine as Citizen of the Year. https://t.co/s6wBZTa6tH
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) November 13, 2017
But this is going to backfire on Kaepernick and the NFL.
Praising Kaepernick as a hero – whose protests have caused the NFL’s favorability numbers and TV ratings to crater – will only further inflame the backlash against the NFL.
And patriotic Americans who do not view Kaepernick as an idol will only increase the calls for fans to boycott the NFL.
Do you agree?
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
