Sen. Kamala Harris said Russian bots were responsible for igniting the NFL’s kneeling controversy with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
“Remember the heat that ended up around the bend the knee and Colin Kaepernick? Many smart people have said it was actually not a thing,” Harris said Friday in an appearance on The Breakfast Club. “The Russian bots started taking that on.”
Kaepernick began kneeling in 2016 when a quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers.
“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 Media at the time. Kaepernick was joined by several players in the NFL and other sports leagues in similar protests, which stirred controversy among fans, including being booed.
In September 2017, President Trump called for a boycott of the NFL over the kneeling protests. The Wall Street Journal reported bot accounts originating from a Kremlin-backed company began tweeting about the controversy. Russian bots have also been blamed for 2016 election interference.
Harris is currently polling in fourth place in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, with 15% support, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.
