Several writers have compared Colin Kaepernick’s protest of taking a knee to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech. David Dennis Jr. of Andscape noted that while Kaepernick was ousted from the NFL for protesting police treatment of marginalized communities, Butker’s remarks, which targeted marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community, could lead to different outcomes and benefits that Kaepernick did not experience.
“I know that some will say that Kaepernick was different because he did this on the field, but we live in a social media world of total access. Players don’t leave their politics at the stadium door before taking the field, just like they don’t stop being an athlete when they sit in front of a podcast mic or a commencement speech podium.
You can’t ignore the hypocrisy of people like Kaepernick being told to stick to sports while Butker is praised by those same ideologues for ranting about the LGBTQIA+ community as an abomination.
Some people will read this and talk about Kaepernick being unpatriotic or un-American, but that falls flat on the same week that New York Jets quarterback and full-time podcaster Aaron Rodgers praised Russian president Vladimir Putin while criticizing President Joe Biden. That’s got to be actually unpatriotic, no?”
Rodgers and Butker will play in the upcoming season. Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season. Dennis has a point that Kaepernick was punished unfairly by the league for taking a stance that annoyed its owners.
