(CNSNews.com) - ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith took San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to task Wednesday for not voting in the presidential election, calling Kaepernick “a flaming hypocrite” who “betrayed his cause” and is “absolutely irrelevant” and calling on the media to ignore him unless he’s on the field trying to throw another “incomplete pass.”
Kaepernick, who refused to stand during the national anthem before games, because he said the U.S. oppresses minorities, said he did not vote and “really didn’t pay too close of attention” to the presidential election.
“He absolutely betrayed his cause,” Smith said Wednesday on ESPN’s “First Take.” “As far as I’m concerned, Colin Kaepernick is absolutely irrelevant. I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to hear from him again. I don’t want to hear a damn word about anything that he has to say about our nation, the issues that we have, racial injustices, needing change, et cetera, et cetera.”
Kaepernick explained to reporters on a conference call Wednesday that it didn’t matter to him who won the presidential election, because he’s “been very disconnected from the systematic oppression as a whole," so for him, “it's another face that's going to be the face of that system of oppression.
"And to me, it didn't really matter who went in there. The system still remains intact that oppresses people of color," he added.
Smith said Kaepernick “comes across as a flaming hypocrite” for not voting.
“As far as I’m concerned I’m not interested in a damn word that he has to say, and quite frankly, I hope he goes away. He’s lucky to be in the league right now. He’s 0 and 3 as a starter this year, only completing 52 percent of his passes. He hasn’t won a game. He doesn’t look good at the quarterback spot. I don’t care about rust. I don’t care about anything else,” said Smith.
Smith said his days of “rooting” for Kaepernick are over, because, “as an African-American in this country, you have to be sensitive to the fact that civil rights legislation was passed in the mid-60s.”
“When we talk about the battles that have been fought, the things that have happened to people, what they’ve had to endure, the fact that folks ended up dying for the right for him to have the right to vote in this great country of ours. You have the opportunity to vote, and what exactly is voting all about? Ladies and gentleman, you know what voting is?” Smith asked.
“Do you not understand that that’s the reason why we’re the greatest country on the planet Earth? It’s not just because of our wealth. It’s not just because of the resources that we have available to us. It’s because we have the power to change and manipulate the course, not just of our lives, but of generations to come because of the voice that we have through the vote to provoke change,” he added.
“If anybody in this country should appreciate that more, it is African-Americans, because that right wasn’t something that was always bestowed upon us,” Smith said, adding that at one point “women didn’t have the right to vote.”
“So knowing all of this and then having the audacity to kneel for the National Anthem, talking about how you won’t stop until there is change that takes place, but ignore the very thing, the most poignant thing you can fathom to help facilitate that change, and you play no active role in that? It’s inexcusable,” he said.
“When President Obama was campaigning on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and he spoke at the Congressional Black Caucus, what he said was he would consider it a personal insult to his legacy if black folks did not activate themselves within this election, and Colin Kaepernick, after all this noise that you made, even though you didn’t intend to do so by offending our military service men and women, and pointing out about how you wanted to bring attention to racial injustices and beyond in this country, to turn around and not to even take your behind to the polls to vote for a particular candidate, it is shameful, absolutely shameful,” Smith added.
Smith said Kaepernick “of all people, because of the position he took, because of the attention he brought to the issues, the fact that you don’t even have the decency to go to the polls and activate yourself in this election as our president said is a damn shame. I don’t want to hear another word from Colin Kaepernick. It’s a waste of time.
“Matter of fact, I would personally make a request to the media in this nation. Wherever he is, if he ain’t on that football field trying to throw another damn incomplete pass, do me a favor and make sure of one thing: take the camera away from him. It means nothing, because for him not to vote, as far as I’m concerned, everything he said meant absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing. I don’t want to hear another damn word from him – nothing,” Smith added.