San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick called both presidential candidates’ performances during Monday night’s debate “embarrassing.”
“To me, it was embarrassing to watch that these are our two candidates,” he told SFGate on Tuesday. “Both are proven liars and it almost seems like they’re trying to debate who’s less racist. At this point — I was talking to one of my friends — you have to pick the lesser of two evils. But in the end, it’s still evil.”
Kaepernick has been generating headlines since he sat down during the national anthem at a 49ers preseason game in August, saying later that the move was a protest against racial injustice and police brutality. He subsequently sparked a national discussion about “The Star-Spangled Banner” and what it represents.
Donald Trump said in early August that if Kaepernick was not happy with the way the U.S. operates, “maybe he should find a country that works better for him.”
Kaepernick responded to that quote after Monday’s debate as well.
“That’s a very ignorant statement that if you don’t agree with what’s going on here — if you want justice and liberty and freedom for all — that you should leave the country,” Kaepernick said. “He always says, ‘Make America great again.’ Well, America has never been great for people of color. And that’s something that needs to be addressed. Let’s make America great for the first time.”
Hillary Clinton has not publicly commented on the Kaepernick controversy, but he has talked about her, calling her out for getting away with deleting thousands of emails from her time as secretary as state.
“We have a presidential candidate who has deleted emails and done things illegally and is a presidential candidate,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense to me. If it was any other person, they’d be in prison. So what is this country really standing for?”
