Former NFL player Colin Kaepernick is getting widespread media attention again, this time for comments he made in his new Netflix show called Colin in Black & White.
In the first episode of the six-part show, Kaepernick compares the NFL draft to slaves being sold on the auction block to the highest bidder.
“What they don’t want you to understand is what’s being established is a power dynamic,” Kaepernick said in the show. “Before they put you on the field, teams poke, prod and examine you searching for any defect that might affect your performance. No boundary respect. No dignity left intact.”
In the show, a scene shows a bunch of NFL hopefuls that morph into slaves with shackles on them. Take a look:
The comment has not been well received by some in the media.
Former NFL player Jack Brewer had some harsh words for Kaepernick saying that the documentary’s view is “the single largest threat to Black men in the United States of America because right now folks are thinking that they’re victims and they’re living in the most prosperous, the most opportunity of any country in the world.”
“You have kids that are hopeless and then you go out and push this mentality and you’re supposed to be someone that’s a leader. Think about the movement that this guy started, the opportunity that he had that he could actually come and promote positivity to young Black men. Telling them how great this country is. He doesn’t have that spirit in him. He has an evil, anti-American spirit and it’s sick and disgusting. One more thing. That even Netflix, someone that big and popular would even put something out like that, to penetrate the mind of these kids should be illegal.”
Kaepernick famously kneeled in 2016 during the national anthem multiple times to protest the way police treat black people in America, as well as inherent racial inequality. He started a national conversation and accused the NFL of blackballing him.
He’s now focused on civil rights causes and TV projects.
Colin in Black & White was directed by Ava DuVernay and tells the story of Kaepernick’s high school career in California. He was adopted by white parents and is biracial. It features Nick Offerman and Mary-Louise Parker as his fictional parents. It premiered on Friday.
