Ten years after he first knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner, Colin Kaepernick speaks from New York as a man who has weighed the price of his gesture and found it worth paying again. The story is one more chapter in a long human tradition in which athletes, standing in the most visible rooms of public life, have chosen to make their conscience visible and to bear what follows. His reflections arrive at a moment when the energy that once spread his gesture across stadiums and national teams has quieted, and when the question of whether sport should carry political voices remains as unsettled
Kaepernick, a decade on from the knee, says he would do it again and sees protest as more vital than ever
Mark
Why does this interview land now, ten years on?
Mimi
Because he's tying the anniversary to the present. He says this moment demands protest more than ever, even as it has gone quieter.
Mark
What does he blame for the quiet?
Mimi
Organised efforts by the NFL, the Trump administration and corporate entities that went along with them.
Luke
Worth flagging that's his view. The article reports it as his explanation, not an established finding.
Mark
And the career exile?
Mimi
He believes the protest led to it. The 49ers' management said he'd have been released anyway, and he never found another team.
Luke
Right, so the cause of him going unsigned is contested. What's documented is the 2019 settlement of his grievance, though the terms weren't given here.
Mark
What about the Premier League moment?
Mimi
Players at five clubs stayed standing during the October campaign, and Kick It Out said it understands frustration at the pace of change.
Luke
Kick It Out's figure is that reports more than doubled in five years. That's a count of reports, which can also reflect more people reporting. The article doesn't say which.
O Pulso
- A quarterback who once led his team to the Super Bowl found the doors of the league closed to him after one act of protest.
- Presidential condemnation, league fines and a stalled grievance turned a single kneel into a national argument that still echoes.
- Kaepernick now says the argument that sport should stay apolitical is hollow, and urges athletes to keep speaking as racism persists.
- Momentum for athlete activism has slowed under pressure from the NFL and the Trump administration, while discrimination reports in UK football have reached record levels.
Ten years after he first knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner, Colin Kaepernick speaks from New York as a man who has weighed the price of his gesture and found it worth paying again. The story is one more chapter in a long human tradition in which athletes, standing in the most visible rooms of public life, have chosen to make their conscience visible and to bear what follows. His reflections arrive at a moment when the energy that once spread his gesture across stadiums and national teams has quieted, and when the question of whether sport should carry political voices remains as unsettled as it was in 2016.
Ten years after he first knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner, Colin Kaepernick tells BBC Sport that he would do it again. Speaking from New York, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback says he knew the protest might end his career and went ahead anyway, pointing to the history of those who paid far more for dissent, including Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
The gesture began in September 2016, when he first sat and then knelt during the anthem to draw attention to the treatment of black people in America. Many hailed him as a hero and other players followed. Others condemned him as disrespectful to the military, and Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, called for players who refused to stand to be fired. Kaepernick opted out of his contract in 2017, and though he had led his team to the Super Bowl, no team signed him. He filed a grievance against the owners and reached a settlement in 2019, and when the league later admitted it had not listened to players, no comeback followed.
After George Floyd's murder in 2020, taking the knee spread across sport, including England's national football teams. Kaepernick calls that moment humbling, though he notes that racism in Britain still demands work. He acknowledges that momentum has faded, pointing to the NFL, the Trump administration and corporate forces he believes worked to quiet athletes. Kick It Out reports that discrimination complaints have more than doubled over five years.
He rejects the claim that sport should stay out of politics as hypocritical, noting that taxpayers fund stadiums and owners back candidates. The real objection, he says, is to athletes having a voice. Now 38, he has written a memoir and backs community groups through his Know Your Rights campaign, still focused on building a more equitable society.
Ten years after he first knelt during the Star-Spangled Banner, Colin Kaepernick says he would do it again. In his first interview with BBC Sport, speaking from New York, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback said he knew the protest could cost him his career, and that he went ahead anyway. He pointed to history as his reasoning: the consequences of dissent, he said, have gone well beyond lost careers, citing the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
The gesture began in September 2016. Kaepernick had first sat during the anthem to draw attention to the plight of black people in the US, then knelt before a 49ers pre-season game, and repeated it before 11 regular-season contests that year. At the time he said he could not show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour, and that the issue was bigger than football.
Many saw him as heroic, and other NFL players followed. Others condemned the act as disrespectful to the military. Among them was Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, who called it a terrible thing, said it was unpatriotic, suggested Kaepernick find another country to live in, and argued that players who refused to stand should be fired. The NFL said it would fine teams whose players did not stand.
Kaepernick opted out of his 49ers contract in March 2017, though the club's management later said he would have been released regardless. He had led the team to the 2013 Super Bowl and threw 16 touchdowns in his final season, yet no other team signed him. He said he had anticipated the backlash, but not the full range of responses: the people who showed up for him in significant ways, and those who worked against him and the movement.
He filed a grievance against NFL team owners, whom he believed had conspired not to hire him, and reached a financial settlement in 2019. That year the NFL arranged a private workout, but he declined it and held his own session elsewhere so the media could attend. No comeback followed. The league later admitted it was wrong for not listening to players earlier and encouraged everyone to speak out and protest peacefully.
After George Floyd was murdered in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020, taking the knee became a feature of Black Lives Matter protests and spread across sport, including England's men's and women's football teams. Kaepernick called that a surprising moment and said it was humbling to see national teams protest. He added that racism in the UK still demands work, and called it a global challenge.
He accepts that momentum behind athlete activism has slowed. In October, several players across five clubs remained standing when Premier League players knelt as part of the No Room for Racism campaign. Kick It Out told BBC Sport the gesture still has value in raising awareness of structural inequalities, and that it could understand players' frustration at the pace of change. The charity said reports of discrimination more than doubled over five years, reaching record levels last season. Kaepernick said the moment demands protest more than ever, and blamed the quieter mood on concerted efforts by organisations like the NFL, the Trump administration and corporate entities that followed along.
On the argument that sport and politics should stay apart, he called it hollow and hypocritical, noting that taxpayers fund NFL stadiums and owners back political candidates. He said the real objection is to athletes having a voice. Trump, in his second term, has become the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl and has appeared at the Ryder Cup and the Club World Cup and World Cup finals, though he was booed at the NBA Finals in New York in June. Kaepernick called Fifa's decision to give Trump its inaugural Peace Prize last year regrettable, and said crowd booing reflects the country's political environment.
Now 38, Kaepernick has published a memoir, The Perilous Fight, about growing up in California as a black child adopted by a white family. He also backs community groups through his Know Your Rights campaign and has written children's books. He still keeps the fitness regime of his 49ers days in case an unlikely chance arises. Asked about comparisons to Muhammad Ali and to Tommie Smith and John Carlos, he called it humbling and said he is focused on the work, and on building a more equitable society.
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