Sports Illustrated cover features protesting athletes but not Colin Kaepernick

The new issue of Sports Illustrated shows prominent sports figures protesting the national anthem, but doesn't include Colin Kaepernick.

Sep 27, 2017

The new issue of Sports Illustrated shows ten prominent sports figures and the words: “A nation divided, sports united.”

But what it doesn’t feature? Colin Kaepernick.

Among the people on the cover are NBA players LeBron James and Stephen Curry, WNBA player Candace Parker and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. But nowhere to be seen is Kaepernick, whose decision to kneel during the national anthem propelled him into the national spotlight and has even arguably kept him out of the NFL as teams have refused to sign him since he became a free agent.

While it makes sense that Curry would be on the cover, since President Donald Trump recently personally attacked the NBA star and told him that he was not welcome to the White House, several of the others are questionable at best. For example, Shad Khan donated $1 million to Trump’s campaign, but he was included on the cover for linking arms with his players.

–Twitter reacts to Trump calling Colin Kaepernick a ‘son of a b*tch’ during Alabama speech–

What Sports Illustrated fails to understand with its cover and the accompanying story is why the protests are occurring in the first place. This isn’t just a story of the NFL versus Donald Trump; this is the story of protests about discrimination and police brutality, and that is being lost in the rush to tout this as a rivalry between the sports industry and Trump.

Twitter, of course, was there to check SI for the oversight. You can check out some of the best responses to the cover below.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE