Colin Kaepernick was a star quarterback in the NFL, but his decision to kneel during the national anthem in 2016, in protest against racial inequality and police brutality, ended up costing him his career.   

His silent gesture exposed deep power imbalances between players and team owners, sparking a league-wide reckoning - with his beef resulting in athletes being able to protest the national anthem without facing the same consequences he did.  

In this episode of The Beefing, Helen Smith unpacks how Kaepernick was quietly side-lined by all 32 teams, why it took the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement for the NFL to shift its stance and what prompted Donald Trump to label him a ‘son of a bitch.’ 

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