NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement on George Floyd, the unarmed black man who was killed earlier this week when a Minneapolis police officer put his knee into his neck for over eight minutes.
In its statement, the league said it was “greatly saddened” by the events happening across the country including the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed while jogging, and Breonna Taylor, who was killed in her own home.
In the statement, Goodell continued on to say there remains an “urgent need” for action to prevent things like this from happening in this country and that they’d be using their platform to bring about that change.
You can read the full statement here.
— NFL (@NFL) May 30, 2020
For many people, though, these words were hollow. That included NFL players Kenny Stills and Eric Reid — both who are staunch supporters of Colin Kaepernick.
WARNING: There is NSFW language in the following tweet.
Save the bullshit
— Kenny Stills (@KSTiLLS) May 30, 2020
Reid even made fun of the NFL’s “songs of the season” campaign.
I’m looking forward to “Songs of the Season 2.0” https://t.co/gQlznxOwJz
— Eric Reid (@E_Reid35) May 30, 2020
They weren’t the only ones to let Goodell and the NFL have it. The rest of the internet pitched in, too.
Many were quick to point out the NFL’s hypocrisy in all this. This very situation is exactly what Colin Kaepernick silently protested against in 2016. Yet, here he is, still unemployed by the league.
Y’all are the last organization that should be speaking on this. https://t.co/a71k14vasp
— Grant Dowling (@GrantHDowling) May 30, 2020
— David Steele (@David_C_Steele) May 30, 2020
— Carlos Murillo (@LosMurillo126) May 30, 2020
Will @Kaepernick7 get hired then??????? https://t.co/M7K7EGFymG
— Chris Williamson (@CWilliamson44) May 30, 2020
Should've listened. pic.twitter.com/vfjYFLDo7a
— LeAnakin James Skywalker (@2018LeBron) May 30, 2020
These are valid criticisms. The NFL says that there’s an urgent need for action for situations like this, but for many people it seems like Kaepernick was seemingly being punished for doing that very thing with his protest.
Only the NFL can prove that that isn’t the case. To this point, they haven’t done that yet. Until they do, statements like this will always ring hollow for so many people.