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Colin Kaepernick is not currently playing in the NFL.
According to ESPN First Take’s Stephen A. Smith, the issue goes deeper than kneeling.
“You have NFL owners who were complaining about the notion; no proof whatsoever, but the notion that Colin Kaepernick was going to cost them money,” Smith told Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning.
“Okay? This is after each one of them. This is after each one of them got a check for $226 million from the revenue generated from television. $226 million! You know this! Per owner! They got the check and was still complaining about the potential for what Colin Kaepernick could cause them. So it shows you where their mindset is. Why am I bringing that up? Remember that whole gambling stuff that was taking place? How the NFL was going to get involved with it because the states were gonna; sports gambling was going to be legalized in certain states? Right? Remember that whole ordeal?” Smith stated.
From there, the ESPN analyst went on to hint that President Trump went “against” Kaepernick.
“Well what was going on on Capitol Hill is that the owners, the NFL owners were trying to get involved with that, where they were trying to get a percentage of the bets and all of this other stuff that was going on. So what happens is, we’re talking billions. Well, guess what? In order for that to happen, you need Congress to sign off on it and you need the President to sign off on it. What you don’t need is the President turning his attention towards you and going against you just because he doesn’t like you.”
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Colin Kaepernick’s Protest History
Three NFL preseasons ago, Kaepernick refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL network’s Steve Wyche during the NFL’s preseason three years ago.
“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Kaepernick would later kneel instead of deciding to not participate during the playing of the national anthem before NFL games.
Stephen A. Smith Says Issue Bigger Than Football
According to Stephen A. Smith, the issue is deeper than football. It’s about big business, football and the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
“He wanted to own the Buffalo Bills, you wouldn’t let him in,” Smith said about President Trump. he’s still mad about you, he’s looking to get at you. They [the NFL] didn’t want to agitate him. So what happened is that they couldn’t side with Colin Kaepernick and stand firm with him unless they were willing to cost themselves billions. And you’re asking owner who aint willing to cost themselves pennies to cost themselves billions. This is what I’m talking about when I talk about practicality. Let’s get away from the idealism and deal with the realism. They’re not going to do that ladies and gentlemen. And not only that, we know that Colin Kaepernick was right!”
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