A few writers have tried to compare Colin Kaepernick’s taking of a knee to Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker’s controversial commencement speech. David Dennis Jr. with And Scape recently made the comparison, although they wrote that Butker stands to benefit in ways Kaepernick didn’t.
Dennis made the point that many of Butker’s talking points punched down at marginalized groups, like the LGBTQ+ community. Kaepernick was booted from the NFL for taking a knee to highlight issues between police and marginalized communities.
Colin Kaepernick’s protest compared to Harrison Butker’s speech
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Dennis thinks it is unfair Kaepernick was “told to stick to sports,” whereas Butker and New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers can talk about taboo subjects and still play in the league:
“I know that some will say that Kaepernick was different because he did this on the field, but we live in a social media world of total access. Players don’t leave their politics at the stadium door before taking the field, just like they don’t stop being an athlete when they sit in front of a podcast mic or a commencement speech podium.
You can’t ignore the hypocrisy of people like Kaepernick being told to stick to sports while Butker is praised by those same ideologues for ranting about the LGBTQIA+ community as an abomination.
Some people will read this and talk about Kaepernick being unpatriotic or un-American, but that falls flat on the same week that New York Jets quarterback and full-time podcaster Aaron Rodgers praised Russian president Vladimir Putin while criticizing President Joe Biden. That’s got to be actually unpatriotic, no?”
Rodgers and Butker will play in the upcoming season. Kaepernick hasn’t played in the NFL since the 2016 season. Dennis has a point that Kaepernick was punished unfairly by the league for taking a stance that annoyed its owners.
Butker’s speech will help his career post-Kansas City Chiefs
However, Dennis made a mistake when he finished his piece by saying Butker’s speech would help his post-football life:
Butker will have a career in the NFL as long as he can kick a football. He’ll also use his abhorrent comments as a jumpstart to his post-NFL career of giving speeches … about how his freedom of speech is being jeopardized.
Kaepernick is making a living through activism, also
Kaepernick’s decision to kneel himself out of the league was a tremendous post-football business decision. He’s used his fame as an activist to start a publishing company, create a non-profit organization, and has secured profitable deals with companies like Nike.
If Butker’s “career” will get a boost from his speech, it’s fair to say Kaepernick’s career was elevated from that of a quarterback who was quickly falling out of QB1 territory to a household name who is making money as an activist–and giving speeches.
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