Antonio Brown did not hold back with his harsh evaluation of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick during a recent interview with host Naji on the Cigar Talk podcast, according to TMZ.
The former Buccaneers receiver ripped into Kaepernick when Naji said that the NFL had blackballed him for protesting police brutality and racial injustice by kneeling during the national anthem before his football matches.
Brown cynically remarked, “But they gave him the money, and they gave him a commercial, they gave him the documentary,” Brown said. “He took a deal. We don’t feel sorry for you. You took the deal. F–k out of here. Oh, Kaepernick. Man, you on f—ing Nike, man. F–k out of here.”
In October 2017, Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance against the NFL and the owners, along with football safety Eric Reid, for conspiring against him playing in the league. Kaepernick and Reid eventually settled with the NFL in February 2019, CBS Sports reports.
Brown expressed his belief that Kaepernick doesn’t want to return to the game of football despite Kaepernick working out with NFL players in the offseason,
“He don’t wanna play, man,” said Brown. “He was trash, everything.”
Brown angrily pointed out that Kaepernick appeared to profit from his on-field protests.
“Kaepernick did all that and took the money and then got the commercial,” Brown said. “We don’t see Kaepernick outside. Where he at? I ain’t never seem him outside. He already took the money, all that’s cap. We ain’t respecting that, bro. You took the money, the commercials. We don’t see you outside. We don’t see him in the hood. He don’t do nothing. Like, we cool. But, nah, we ain’t even stan Kaepernick.”
Brown completely ignored that Kaepernick once donated a total of $1 million to various charities, one of which assists at-risk youths.
“He not even from the hood, you don’t even been in the trenches,” Brown said. “We like Kaepernick and all, but we ain’t really on that. As Black people we need to get that clear because when he have moments, ain’t nobody giving us no nothing. He took the handout, so he got to take the mayor out and take responsibility for that.”
“He’s been treated good,” Brown said in another interview on This is 50 podcast. “He got (a) Netflix documentary — don’t get it twisted — see that’s the wrong thing about the world, we think, ‘Oh Kaepernick treated so bad because they don’t let him play football.’ Yeah, they didn’t let him play football, they gave him commercials, they gave him money.”
Brown also pointed out that Kaepernick did not live an authentic Black experience that Brown has encountered.
“Kaepernick, he’s a great guy, he stood for a great cause but he don’t understand,” Brown said on This is 50. “He’s not from Liberty City, he ain’t even built like that. Dudes like me, they ban you. They don’t even give you contracts, they don’t even want to deal with you. I’m not really an icon right now. You don’t see them writing no books about me.”
Brown is currently a free agent and is releasing an album called Paradigm, that features Young Thug, Fivio Foreign, DaBaby, French Montana, Jacquees, and others, Complex reports.