“Comedian” Amy Schumer, fresh off her sort-of arrest during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, took to Instagram late Friday to announce that she’s joining Colin Kaepernick’s cause, and “protesting” the NFL’s decision to “blacklist” the former second-string quarterback.
Schumer posted her anti-NFL manifesto to Instagram Friday night under a photo of her leaning on a giant wine glass. In it, she accused white NFL players who refused to kneel with Kaepernick “complicit” in “deep inequality” and “endless racism,” and prodded Super Bowl halftime act, Maroon 5, to drop out of performing.
“I wonder why more white players aren’t kneeling,” Schumer mused. “Once you witness the truly deep inequality and endless racism people of color face in our country, not to mention the police brutality and murders. Why not kneel next to your brothers? Otherwise how are you not complicit?”
“I think it would be cool if @maroon5 backed out of super bowl like @badgalriri Did (sic),” Schumer added.
Schumer then declared that she’d informed her agents that she would not appear in any Super Bowl commercials, no matter how much money was offered.
“I personally told my reps I wouldn’t do a Super Bowl commercial this year. I know it must sound like a privilege ass sacrifice but it’s all i got,” Schumer claimed. “Hitting the nfl with the advertisers is the only way to really hurt them.”
It is, of course, not clear anyone’s offered. Schumer last starred in a Super Bowl commercial in 2016 (when Kaepernick was already kneeling in protest), pushing Bud Light alongside fellow comedian Seth Rogan. The company has since abandoned the pair’s unsuccessful plea for American unity over light beer for a campaign focused on the words, “Dilly Dilly.”
It’s also not clear any advertisers will suffer without Schumer in their commercials, either. Unless all of Hollywood drops out of Super Bowl advertising, whichever company had planned on featuring Schumer in their commercials will simply find someone else.
Ironically, Colin Kaepernick is expected to star in a Super Bowl commercial for Nike. His campaign for the athletic wear company has been among the most popular and profitable campaigns in the brand’s long history.
Kaepernick has now been out of the league for nearly two years, after refusing a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers to seek a more profitable contract elsewhere. He was never picked up — a development Kaepernick now alleges is due to racism, and pressure on the part of the Trump administration to end the NFL protests. Kaepernick filed a lawsuit earlier this year, claiming he’s been “blacklisted” by the NFL over his anthem protests.