On Thursday, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton sounded off on San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s contentious decision to protest-sit during the playing of our national anthem since, according to the rich NFL star who was adopted by white parents at just weeks old, America is a racist, oppressive country against black and brown people.
When asked about the polarizing issue, Newton mostly remained neutral in his response, not condemning nor celebrating Kaepernick’s actions. But he also sent a message of racial harmony–which drew ire from leftists, of course.
“Who am I to say ‘Colin, you’re wrong’? And who am I to say ‘Bro, you’re right’? Because we all, you know, we all have the right to think whatever we wanna think. And I respect that by everybody,” Newton told ESPN (or MSNBC with footballs).
Here’s where the pro-quarterback angered folks on the left: explaining that the color of our skin doesn’t, and shouldn’t divide us; we are all the “same color” under “one-eighth of an inch” of skin, he said.
“How does one-eighth of an inch — something so small — be the difference in such a big [subject]?” asked Newton. “And that’s the thickness of our skin: one-eighth of an inch. And under that we’re all the same color. You know? And that’s the big picture.”
“You know, a lot of scrutiny happens when athletes start talking about, you know, race, but the truth of the matter is we gotta do right by each other. No matter what color we are,” he added.
That inclusive message of racial harmony really ticked-off ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
Smith said he “hated” Newton’s comments, characterizing them as “saying nothing” about the issue.
“When I watched this interview yesterday, I’m saying ‘one-eighth of an inch’…that’s your skin, the color of it? It doesn’t make sense?” he continued.
“That one-eighth of an inch, which is your skin, and the color of it, has been used as an excuse to minimize and deprecate and do everything that you can to keep a nation of people down,” he added. “Why not just say it?”
“We’re all the same color. You know? And that’s the big picture.”
Cam Newton
He also posted to Twitter to condemn Newton one more time, for good measure.
Other left-wing media types and Black Lives Matter supporters took to Twitter to savagely trash Newton, too.
Watch Newton’s comments and Stephen A. Smith’s reaction, below.