Where’s Kap?: ‘Sports Illustrated’ Creates a Firestorm By Leaving Kaepernick Off Anti-Trump Cover

AP Chris Carlson Kaep
AP Photo/Chris Carlson
Dylan Gwinn

Perhaps it’s poetic justice that the same political movement which coined the phrase, “an inconvenient truth,” seems to constantly be inconvenienced by truth. Such is the case with what’s happening right now Sports Illustrated.

On Monday, the magazine allegedly dedicated to the illustration of sport, decided to illustrate social justice activism instead. By featuring, arm-in-arm, those leading those standing in opposition to President Trump and the sentiments he expressed last Friday in Alabama:

However, if you’ll notice, there’s one notable omission: Colin Kaepernick.

That’s right, in a magazine cover dedicated to the modern social justice movement in sports, Sports Illustrated neglected to include the founder of the modern social justice movement in sports. The very man who founded the movement that Trump was lashing out at in Alabama.

It was an exclusion, that did not go unnoticed by two of the men featured on the cover: Steph Curry and Steve Kerr.

Speaking to Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Curry said, “That was terrible. It’s just kind capitalizing on the hoopla and the media and all that nonsense. The real people that understand exactly what’s been going on, and who’s really been active and vocal and truly making a difference, if you don’t have Kaepernick front and center on that, something’s wrong.”

Curry and Kerr had more to say, via the Twitter feed of The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami:

Curry’s head coach, Steve Kerr, also criticized the cover:

According to the Chronicle’s Connor Letourneau, Sports Illustrated’s Executive Editor Steve Cannella said that Kaepernick was excluded because they wanted to focus on “the news of the weekend.” While helping to promote the message of “unity,” they felt central to the NFL’s protests.

Though, the real reason why the SI cut Kaepernick out is because of Donald Trump. Beneath it all, the sports media knows how wildly unpopular Kaepernick is, and how toxic the mere mention of his name can be. Let alone an image of him assuming the kneeling position for which he will forever be remembered. Therefore, the only way they can win publicly is if they paint Donald Trump as a malicious assaulter of free speech.

If Trump were to be portrayed, accurately, as an assaulter of Kaepernick and the disgraceful conduct of him and his clones. Then the media has no chance, because the public hates Kaepernick. The only way they can win is if Trump is made to look like a fascist. It’s literally the same playbook MSNBC uses, because there’s literally no difference between Sports Illustrated and MSNBC.

Those inconvenient truths, that Kaepernick and his message are toxic to the American people, and that Trump’s criticism of him was based on his conduct, not an assault on free speech. Represent a two-headed Kraken that threatens to sink the sports media’s ship of lies before it even sets sail.

SI’s cover was meant to be a statement of unity and solidarity against Trump. Instead, with the omission of Kaepernick, all it shows is that Trump has already won.

 

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