A pastor in Alabama cut up Nike products with a pair of scissors, while delivering an impassioned sermon in opposition to the company’s decision to make Colin Kaepernick the face of their ad campaign.
According to AL.com via Fox News:
Rev. Mack Morris, of the Woodridge Baptist Church in Mobile, held a Nike headband and wristband before cutting them up in an act of protest, AL.com reported.
‘I ain’t using that no more,’ Morris said in his weekly sermon, titled ‘The Storms of Life.’ ‘He’s inked a contract with Nike. No one knows or is telling how many multi-million dollars that is going to be simply because he won’t stand when the national anthem is sung.’
Kaepernick trigged a firestorm over two years ago when he began taking a knee during the playing of the National Anthem during football games.
The protest centered on police brutality and racial injustice in America, but opponents argue the kneeling is disrespectful to the American flag and military.
Morris received a standing applause afterwards, the newspaper reported.
The anthem protest movement that Kaepernick began, and Nike’s decision to hire him, has caused tremendous backlash.
Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance against the NFL earlier this year alleging that the league’s owners had conspired under pressure from President Trump, to keep him out of the league. The former 49er’s legal team won their summary judgment case against the league last week, meaning that the case can now proceed to the trial phase.
The NFL changed their anthem policy in May, requiring all players on the field to stand and show respect during the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. However, the NFLPA filed a grievance against the league, accusing the NFL of not including them in the decision making process. The NFL then suspended the enforcement provisions of the new rule, until the two sides could come to a compromise on a new rule.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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