Earlier this year, Antonio Brown was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after storming off the field mid-game. Since then, he’s gotten to work on an album titled Paradigm with a long list of features, including Young Thug. Brown appeared on the podcast Cigar Talk to discuss the new album, and while speaking with host Naji, he dived into his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick.
After Naji expressed sympathy for the situation of Colin Kaepernick, who famously began kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season, Brown almost immediately brushed it away. He first called Kaepernick’s on-field skillset “trash” and discounted any claims of talent Kaepernick may have, and he then spoke about the payouts Kaepernick received:
“He took the handout, so he got to take the man route and take responsibility for that.”
Throughout the rest of the segment, Brown made it clear that he feels no sympathy for Kaepernick because he doesn’t think the former 49ers quarterback has any desire to rejoin the NFL, despite his very public attempts to get back on the playing field. Brown cited Nike commercials and the Netflix documentary as proof that Kaepernick is happy where he is and doesn’t need anything more. He then went on to say that Kaepernick was not “from the hood” and hadn’t “been in the trenches” like he had and continued by claiming that Kaepernick hasn’t done anything to truly help.
Kaepernick does have a charitable foundation called “Know Your Rights Camp” that’s main goal is to fight social injustice, and he has donated millions to similar organizations. Brown, though, feels that because Kaepernick partnered with Nike and was paid for the stand he took is not the person people should be looking up to. He mentioned several times that he doesn’t think Kaepernick is out in the world enough to make a difference, saying, “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.”
To watch the full podcast episode, click here.
