Above is a photo of benched 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s practice socks, which feature the image of a pig in a police officer’s hat.
Kaepernick has worn the anti-cop socks at least as early as Aug. 10, when AP’s Ben Margot took several photographs of the quarterback during a team practice. Though it had been weeks since AP published the photos, at the time this article was first posted Kaepernick had not been asked about the socks. However, when images of the “pig cops” socks went viral today following the publication of this report and others, Kaepernick posted a response on Instagram defending his decision to wear them.
“I wore these socks, in the past, because the rogue cops that are allowed to hold positions in police departments, not only put the community in danger, but also put the cops that have the right intentions in danger by creating an environment of tension and mistrust,” he wrote.
Despite being largely irrelevant on the field now, Kaepernick has managed to make himself the subject of a flood of headlines after he declared that he would no longer stand for the national anthem because America “oppresses” minorities and allows its cops to “murder” innocent people of color.
Over the weekend, he made his attack on police even more explicit, saying in an interview Sunday, “People of color have been targeted by police. So that’s a large part of it and they’re government officials. They are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change. There’s things we can do to hold them more accountable. Make those standards higher. You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist.”
As the Daily Wire reported earlier this week, the San Francisco police union responded strongly to Kaepernick’s blanket condemnation of officers, slapping him for his “incredible lack of knowledge” about what goes into law enforcement training and challenging him to come see firsthand what the process entails.
Since the images of the socks began to circulate, more law enforcement officials have spoken out against Kaepernick, including Bill Johnson, a leader of one of the nation’s largest police organizations, who condemned the quarterback and the league.
“It’s just ridiculous that the same league that prohibits the Dallas (Cowboys) football club from honoring the slain officers in their community with their uniforms stands silent when Kaepernick is dishonoring police officers with what he’s wearing on the field,” Johnson told USA TODAY Sports. “I think the league is in a downward spiral regarding their obligations to the public under (Commissioner) Roger Goodell, and this is just another example of that.”
Here’s hoping the 49ers cut classless Kaepernick and the rest of the NFL is wise enough to keep what will only prove a massive distraction off their rosters.
A few other photos of the QB in his anti-cop socks:
