In 2016, Eric Reid (right) signed up with Colin Kaepernick on the 49ers sideline in protest. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images) More.
Why Sundays video of Kaepernick struck a nerve.
As one source put it pointedly: “Theyre disappointing him as a football gamer or the important things he did on the field any longer, but now theyre using him as a prop to reveal they appreciate social justice. They removed him as a football gamer and then they brought him back like this to serve their own public relations purposes.”.
The Fox-produced piece on social justice appeared to irritate Kaepernicks camp– and obviously likewise Reid– more than Keys performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The sources stated that was largely because the Fox piece seemed commercializing social justice for the advantage of the NFL, while bookending kneeling in two images: Kaepernicks tranquil demonstrations in 2016 versus Minneapolis law enforcement officers Derek Chauvin putting his knee on the neck of George Floyd in May, which led to Floyds death.
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A day after free-agent security Eric Reid called the NFLs addition of Colin Kaepernick in social justice videos “wicked”, some clearness has emerged around his sharp word option. Apparently Kaepernick found out about his look in the NFL-backed features when everybody else did– upon the preliminary airing of the product.
Two sources near to the previous NFL quarterback told Yahoo Sports that Kaepernicks “kneeling addition” in gameday videos on Thursday and Sunday didnt sit well with him, triggering his tweet that the NFL was making use of “propaganda about how they appreciate Black Life [while] they are still actively blackballing Eric Reid for battling for the Black neighborhood.”
The Fox-produced spot was stressed near completion with a really “league forward” message in Hardwicks narrative: “Murals increased, statues came down. Gamers utilized their voices and commissioner Roger Goodell publicly confessed he was incorrect, expanding a league-wide campaign on social justice. Now if theres a silver-lining here, its this: The NFL can alter. And we can, too.”.
When Reid reacted to what he believed was a public relations try that was co-opting Kaepernick while concurrently continuing to lock him out of the NFL, it wasnt long after that area.
” What the @NFL is doing is half-hearted at best,” Reid tweeted. “@nflcommish [Roger Goodell] has actually gotten comfortable stating he was incorrect as if his simple recognition reconciles his confessed wrongdoing. He hasnt even called Colin to apologize, not to mention reconcile, proving this is just PR for the existing service climate. As such, Roger Goodell utilizes video of Colin courageously kneeling to legitimize their disingenuous PR while simultaneously perpetuating systemic injustice, that the video hes using fights against, by continuing to rob Colin of his career. Its wicked.”.
The Fox-produced spot was punctuated near the end with an extremely “league forward” message in Hardwicks narrative: “Murals went up, statues came down. Players used their voices and commissioner Roger Goodell publicly admitted he was wrong, expanding a league-wide campaign on social justice. Now if theres a silver-lining here, its this: The NFL can alter. He hasnt even called Colin to say sorry, let alone reconcile, showing this is just PR for the current service climate. Roger Goodell uses video of Colin courageously kneeling to legitimize their disingenuous PR while all at once perpetuating systemic injustice, that the video hes utilizing fights versus, by continuing to rob Colin of his career.
: The NFL is using a clip of Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid taking a knee in their Lift Every Voice and Sing video playing across arenas today. (0:49).
The song yearns for liberty, yet the NFL owners are denying Colin and Eric the freedom to play. pic.twitter.com/bnoq1Fc6w7— Resist Programming (@RzstProgramming) September 13, 2020.
The 28-year-old Reid– who knelt with Kaepernick as a San Francisco 49er and continued to be singing about racial injustices with the Carolina Panthers in 2019– remains anonymous in spite of starting 98 of his 99 NFL video games at security from 2013-19. Reid was also pointed when he resolved the NFLs utilization of Kaepernick in its messaging, which has consisted of public apologies to the quarterback but no direct contact from commissioner Roger Goodell.
2 videos at center of problem for Colin Kaepernick, Eric Reid.
Reids and Kaepernicks recent criticism of the NFL has been relatively easy: They think a sweeping change in public and sponsor belief on the concern of social justice and demonstration has actually forced the NFL to surrender its formerly held position against gamer demonstrations. And in turn, they think giving up that position has actually also required the NFL to discover a method to embrace Kaepernick without remedying the reality that his career was snuffed out after the 2016 season.
What they didnt expect to occur was for the league and its rights-holders to start producing material that appear to accept Kaepernicks kneeling at a time when he still does not have a job. Its a little like firing a worker for his actions, then later on producing advertising materials commemorating those exact same actions while that worker still remains fired for those actions.
Kneeling imagery of Kaepernick was utilized at least two times during the leagues opening slate, initially in a stopping Alicia Keys performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before the Thursday night opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans, and again Sunday in a Fox NFL-produced feature told by actor Omari Hardwick, which took off with Kaepernicks kneeling as the main theme. Kaepernick wasnt mindful of either content production or his use in them, sources stated.
Both videos made something generously clear that hadnt been apparent before this week: If the NFL wants to use video footage of Kaepernicks kneeling as part of its advertising messaging, its totally free to do so without his authorization.
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