Twitter users blasted former NBC Sports reporter and current GOP campaign operative Michele Tafoya after an interview on the Megyn Kelly Show in which she said that original NFL anthem-protester Colin Kaepernick could have had a job in the NFL if he “really, really wanted” one.
The NBC Sports veteran made the comments less than a day after her final television appearance as a sideline reporter in Super Bowl LVI. Shortly before her retirement, it was learned that Tafoya intended for the Super Bowl to be her last sports broadcast appearance before joining the gubernatorial campaign of Minnesota Republican Kendall Qualls.
During the interview, Tafoya made the case that Colin Kaepernick would have a job in the NFL if football were his true focus.
“If he really, really wanted — If the one thing he wanted in this life was to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, he’d be one right now, given that he had the talent,” Tafoya said. “But, he made some business decisions… I think he knew what he was risking, and I think that there are some legitimate complaints about race in the NFL and everywhere else in America — but that’s not why Colin Kaepernick’s not in the NFL.”
Leftist Twitter users who will accept no other explanation for Kaepernick’s unemployment – other than that which says he’s been blackballed for his political beliefs by racist white owners – were quick to pounce on Tafoya’s comments.
Of course, Tafoya did not say that Kaepernick can’t have his own political beliefs. Instead, she’s speaking to the level of dedication one has to be an NFL quarterback. A level of dedication that Kaepernick revealed he did not have when he made an absolute mockery of an NFL tryout the league organized for him in 2019.
Is it far-fetched to believe the NFL would have let Kaepernick back in the league if they felt he’d be totally dedicated to football? The NFL has allowed killers of dogs (Michael Vick) and someone who involuntarily killed a person (Leonard Little) to come back and play.
Tafoya draws the left’s ire because she speaks the truth: The NFL was always there for Kaepernick if he wanted it. He just didn’t want it all that badly.