- Kaepernick says Jay-Z’s criticism stems from guilt over his NFL partnership, meant to rehabilitate the league’s image.
- Jay-Z claimed Kaepernick signed a non-disparagement agreement, but Kaepernick denies this.
- Kaepernick refuses to sell his memoir through Target, unlike Jay-Z’s continued corporate partnerships.
Colin Kaepernick is making it crystal clear that he hasn’t forgotten who switched lanes once the money and corporate access started flowing.
In a new interview with NBC News, the former NFL quarterback suggested that Jay-Z’s recent shots at him are less about Kaepernick and more about the rapper trying to soothe what Kaepernick believes is a very loud guilty conscience. And to be quite frank, the timing is doing a lot of talking.
The tension erupted after Jay-Z name-dropped Kaepernick during a July performance at Yankee Stadium while defending his controversial business relationship with Target. Jay-Z mocked those who dare mention Kaepernick’s name as someone who Jay Z had betrayed. The Brooklyn rapper also referenced the former quarterback’s settlement with the NFL and claiming that Kaepernick had signed a non-disparagement agreement.
“They run out of characters, had to bring back up [Kaepernick] again,” Jay-Z said, referring to people who have criticized him for a recent partnership with Target. “Buddy took a check, I ain’t even mad at him, but along with that check you have to sign a non-disparagement. I’m the one [the NFL] can’t control.”
A claim has no basis in reality as there is no evidence that Kaepernick ever signed such an agreement. In fact, Kaepernick has disparaged the NFL multiple times since signing a deal to get the money he was owed. He also told NBC News himself that he did not sign such an agreement when he settled his collusion lawsuit with the league in 2019.
But the real issue is bigger than one freestyle.
Jay-Z was once among Kaepernick’s most prominent supporters. After Kaepernick began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice, Jay-Z publicly backed him, even wearing Kaepernick’s jersey during a 2017 appearance on Saturday Night Live. Then came the plot twist, in 2019, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation partnered with the NFL, the same league Kaepernick accused of blackballing him. Roc Nation has since produced the Super Bowl halftime show and worked with the NFL on alleged social justice initiatives.
In his book, Kaepernick says he warned Jay-Z about the partnership, arguing that the NFL was essentially using him as a Black face to rehabilitate its image while Kaepernick remained unemployed. Jay-Z famously declared that the culture had moved “past kneeling” and that it was time for action.
“I just want you to know, one, you’re serving the culture up to a bunch of racists and, two, they don’t care about you,” Kaepernick wrote about what he told Jay-Z when they spoke. “You’re the music guy to them. They quite literally need a Black face—and have said as much.”
Fast-forward several years, and Jay-Z is now defending another corporate relationship, this time with Target. As BOSSIP previously reported, the big box giant has faced backlash and boycotts from Black shoppers after rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to kowtow to Donald Trump’s anti-Black agenda. Kaepernick, meanwhile, is refusing to sell his upcoming memoir, The Perilous Fight, through Target. Instead, his book tour is partnering with the National Association of Black Bookstores.
Kaepernick believes Jay-Z’s continued references to their disagreement suggest he is still wrestling with the backlash over his NFL partnership. He described the situation as evidence of a “guilty conscience” and accused Jay-Z of attempting some good old-fashioned reputational recovery.
Kaepernick says he’ll let his work speak for itself. Meanwhile, Jay-Z apparently still has something to say.
