Kaepernick reflects on anthem protest

News · Heat 2.6 / 10 · 2 shows · 6m airtime

In a September 14, 2026 Dateline NBC interview with Lester Holt, Colin Kaepernick marked ten years since he knelt during the national anthem, saying the protest was specifically against police killing Black people and also targeted systemic oppression more broadly. He described the personal cost: people tried to send bombs to his house, he received death threats, and in Buffalo fans burned his jersey in front of the team bus and wore shirts showing him in a sniper scope. In a later interview he said he would kneel again knowing it would cost him his career. The discussion now weighs his stated aims against that cost and his refusal to recant.

How 2 podcasts covered it

1. Dateline NBC, 2026-09-14 (0:18 to 0:52)
   Previews the Holt interview on the protest
   A preview excerpt of Lester Holt's interview with Colin Kaepernick, ten years after he took a knee: he says the protest was specifically against police killing Black people and also about systemic oppression.
   New angle: Kaepernick says the protest was specifically against police killing Black people and also targeted systemic oppression holistically.
2. Dateline NBC, 2026-09-14 (0:52 to 1:42)
   Recounts the knee and the backlash
   Kaepernick describes the moment he took the knee, citing the Montgomery bus boycotts, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and MLK, and asks what doing nothing costs. He also recounts the backlash: a jersey burned in Buffalo, sniper-scope shirts, death threats and bombs mailed to his house.
3. Dateline NBC, 2026-09-14 (1:42 to 2:06)
   Details the hostile reactions city by city
   Kaepernick details the hostile reactions city by city: in Buffalo a burned jersey thrown in front of the team bus and shirts showing him in a sniper scope; in San Diego a Black woman holding a 'Kaepernick for president' sign.
   New angle: In Buffalo, fans burned Kaepernick's jersey and threw it in front of the team bus; shirts showed him in a sniper scope.
4. Dateline NBC, 2026-09-14 (2:06 to 2:54)
   Recounts the threats and mailed bombs
   Kaepernick recounts the death threats and the attempts to send bombs to his house, saying he had to move differently through the world but would not let it stop the work. It restates a delta already on the record.
   New angle: Kaepernick says people tried to send bombs to his house and that he received death threats.
5. Global News Podcast, 2026-10-28 (16:55 to 20:20)
   Plays Kaepernick saying he would kneel again
   Kaepernick's own interview with the BBC's sports editor, ten years on: he says he knew the protest could cost him his career and would do it again, and calls the keep-politics-out-of-sports argument hypocritical, citing taxpayer-funded stadiums and owners backing candidates and justices.
   New angle: Kaepernick says he would kneel again knowing it would cost him his career.