Colin Kaepernick Ad's Emmy Win Draws Social Media Mockery: 'Kinda Like Obama's Nobel Prize'
And the sham canonization continues.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick will probably never be in the NFL’s Hall of Fame, considering no NFL team will touch him with a 10-foot pole these days, but the athlete-turned-activist darling is enshrined in the hearts of liberals everywhere.
The weekend’s Emmy Awards just proved that — but the backlash showed not everyone’s a believer.
Kaepernick’s last big splash in the news was when he forced Nike to halt sales of a patriotic, Betsy Ross flag-themed sneaker around the Fourth of July. On Saturday, a 2018 Nike ad starring Kaepernick won the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial, CBS News reported.
The theme of the ad was “Dream Crazy,” and it showed a mélange of athletes scoring achievements in the field while Kaepernick rattled off a list of refrigerator-magnet, self-improvement aphorisms:
“Calling a dream crazy is not an insult, it’s a compliment”; “Don’t believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody”; “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they’re crazy enough.”
A little more than midway through the 2-minute spot was the moment that featured Kaepernick turning to stare moodily into the camera as his own voice declared: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Of course, the Nike ad campaign was based on Kaepernick’s decision to destroy his own football career by insulting millions of Americans with a calculated disrespect for the national anthem in pregame ceremonies.
Kaepernick’s national anthem protests in 2016 kicked off demonstrations that eventually engulfed not only the NFL but athletes in other sports, too, down to the high school level.
But as many social media users pointed out, Kaepernick’s insistence on standing by his “principles” — the idea that supposed oppression of blacks in the United States makes the country unworthy of paying its national anthem respectful attention — hasn’t forced him to sacrifice “everything.”
In fact, the notoriety helped him ink his advertising deal with Nike that — while the terms have not been disclosed — is reportedly paying him millions of dollars every year including royalties and sales.
His NFL career was on the decline when he began his protests: The 49ers were 1-10 with Kaepernick as their starter in 2016.
So it’s legitimate to ask, as many Twitter users did, has Kaepernick really give up anything?
Is this the Left’s definition of sacrifice? Some rich dude getting even more rich and famous for virtue signaling?
— Syrena Sketches ?? ☕ ? ✝️? ? (@SlayerSyrena) September 16, 2019
The guy is a millionaire. He didn’t sacrifice anything.
— George (@provocateur412) September 16, 2019
???????? can I please sacrifice my job? I’d love to make commercials for t shirts celebrating myself made by kids in sweatshops and get paid millions of dollars for it. Also, where are all these shootings going on? Also why do FBI stats contradict that?
— James Rumsfeld (@JamesRumsfeld) September 16, 2019
And then there was the political angle.
President Donald Trump was a harsh critic of the Nike deal with Kaepernick when it was announced.
Some social media users thought the latest display of disdain for American values by the elite entertainment world will only help the president.
Kinda like Obama’s Nobel Prize. Leftist literally do nothing to “earn” rewards!
— Scott (@ScottDe56327773) September 16, 2019
At this pace liberals will elect trump for a third and fourth term. pic.twitter.com/SwD2TGrt8n
— the_left_turnedme_right (@gonlozano) September 16, 2019
I don’t know if they want 4 more years but it’s what they are going to get
— President Corn Pop (@mikediller) September 16, 2019
How much anything that happens with Kaepernick will affect the 2020 election is questionable at this point, of course.
Not only is the election more than a year — and another Emmy season! — away, but the positions of most Americans about the ex-quarterback pitchman have long since hardened.
But it is clear that corporate America, Hollywood and the rest of the entertainment world — the kinds of people who decide who gets an award like an Emmy for an “Outstanding Commercial” — think a lot more highly of Colin Kaepernick and his causes than the average, sane American — the kind of man and woman who might not have the faintest idea how the Emmys operate but believes deeply that standing for the national anthem is as natural, and necessary, as breathing.
And as long as the liberal elite are intent on virtue-signaling their pious liberalism, the sham canonization of Kaepernick is going to continue.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
