Kelly Stafford, the wife of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, has apologized to former 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick for her 2017 remarks criticizing his national anthem protests over police brutality.
In an Instagram post over the weekend, Stafford said that she and her husband had donated $35,000 to the University of Georgia to fund a “social justice program,” according to Fox News.
“When Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, I had strong feelings about it. Even when he kept saying it had nothing to do with the flag or military, I didn’t listen. I kept not listening to him or anyone else and let the political rhetoric persuade me that him kneeling was disrespectful to our military,” she said in her post.
“Over the past several months, I have opened my ears, mind, and heart and it has opened my eyes to see how wrong I was and for that I am sorry,” she continued. “This systematic (sic) racism is not going away unless we ALL work on it by working on ourselves and those around us. It’s time for everyone to do their part to help end this system.”
Kelly concluded with a call to end social injustice and openly supported Black Lives Matter.
“Matthew and I thought this was a good place to start,” she concluded. “We are proud to be a part of this program and we will keep fighting to help end this social injustice. Black Lives Matter.”
Quarterback Drew Brees of the Seattle Saints initially opposed kneeling during the national anthem; he reversed his position after facing severe backlash. Speaking with the media earlier this month, Brees said that he will still stand for the anthem but understood how his initial words hurt people.
“Going back to my comment on June 3, to think for a second that New Orleans or the state of Louisiana or the black community would think that I was not standing with them for social justice, that completely broke my heart. It was crushing. Never, ever would I feel that way,” he said.
“I recognize that I missed an opportunity that day. I had an opportunity to talk about and emphasize the social injustices that exist for our black community and our need as a country to support them and to advocate for systemic change. And my lack of awareness in that moment hurt a lot of people,” he continued.
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre took a more nuanced approach to the controversy by saying that he understood where both the kneelers and the non-kneelers are coming from.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be Black. It’s not for me to say what’s right and what’s wrong. I do know we should all be treated equal. If you can’t do that, you shouldn’t be in America,” Favre told USA Today.
“There’s no right answer,” he added. “Other than, the right answer is that we all get along. It seems like the more people try the more damage is done.”
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