Megyn Kelly isn’t buying into the idea of Colin Kaepernick guiding the NFL on social justice issues.
The former Fox News and NBC journalist slammed former the San Francisco 49ers quarterback on Wednesday for his foreign policy views after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell floated the possibility of him guiding the league on certain issues.
During an interview with ESPN earlier this week, Goodell encouraged NFL teams to bring Kaepernick on following recent protests against police brutality and added he would “welcome” the former player to advise the league on matters of social justice policy. In response, Kelly questioned Kaepernick’s record, pointing to his controversial statements on foreign policy following the death of Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
“NFL boss Roger Goodell reportedly wants Colin Kaepernick to ‘guide’ the league on social justice,” Kelly began. “Remember his ‘guidance’ when Trump had Iran’s Qassan Soleimani – a guy responsible for killing hundreds of American troops – taken out by drone?”
In January, Kaepernick sent out two controversial tweets that asserted “American imperialism” targeted “black and brown people” abroad, also referring to the U.S. targeted attack against Soleimani as an “American terrorist attack.”
NFL boss Roger Goodell reportedly wants Colin Kaepernick to “guide” the league on social justice.
Remember his “guidance” when Trump had Iran’s Qassan Soleimani – a guy responsible for killing hundreds of American troops – taken out by drone? pic.twitter.com/3yGvFPeFIk— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 17, 2020
Iran attacked an Iraqi air base housing U.S. personnel in early January after the United States announced it successfully killed Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s elite Quds Force and the man responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq. The U.S. claimed Soleimani was planning future attacks that posed a threat to U.S. national security.
“Soleimani was actively planning new attacks, and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad,” President Trump said at the time.
In his interview, Goodell said the NFL has invited him to speak on social justice issues in the past and will continue to extend the invitation.
“If his efforts are not on the field but continuing to work in this space, we welcome to that table and to help us, guide us, and help us make better decisions about the kinds of things that need to be done in communities,” Goodell said. “We have invited him in before, and we want to make sure that everybody’s welcome at that table and trying to help us deal with some very complex, difficult issues that have been around unfortunately for a long time.”
Protests during the national anthem at football games first began after Kaepernick sat during the national anthem in 2016 to protest police brutality.
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he told the NFL in 2016. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.”
However, after Kaepernick spoke with Nate Boyer, a former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, about the level of respect exhibited for the national anthem, he changed his tactic to kneeling during the anthem before every game.
