Trump: Nike's endorsement of Kaepernick 'a terrible message'
President Donald Trump bashed Nike for its endorsement of Colin Kaepernick, who was crowned the face of the company's 30th anniversary campaign.
"I think it's a terrible message," Trump told Vince Coglianese and Saagar Enjeti of The Daily Caller. "Nike is a tenant of mine. They pay a lot of rent."
Kaepernick was the first NFL player to kneel for the national anthem in a protest against social injustice throughout the United States. He's been unemployed since March 2017 and is attempting to sue the NFL for collusion.
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Trump has repeatedly attacked Kaepernick and other NFL players who have demonstrated during the national anthem before games. He once went as far as to call Kaepernick a "son of a b----" for refusing to stand.
"But I think it's a terrible message that they're sending and the purpose of them doing it, maybe there's a reason for them doing it, but I think as far as sending a message, I think it's a terrible message and a message that shouldn't be sent," Trump said. "There's no reason for it."
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO
- Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018
Trump added that he respects Nike's right to support Kaepernick, even if he doesn't.
"As much as I disagree with the Colin Kaepernick endorsement, in another way - I mean, I wouldn't have done it," he said. "In another way, it is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn't do, but I personally am on a different side of it."
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