LOS ANGELES – A number of stars made it clear on social media not to watch the Super Bowl in protest on Sunday. Among others, director Ava DuVernay and actress Rosanna Arquette announced that they were boycotting the most important football match of the season in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick.
The former player refused to stand in the 2016/2017 season when the American national anthem was played. In protest against racial inequality in the US, he knelt during The Star-Spangled Banner. He was then no longer hired by football teams, according to the athlete and his supporters because of that protest. Many stars shared social media photos on which they followed the example of Kaepernick’s example. Singer Erykah Badu, Empire creator Lee Daniels, television maker Norman Lear, the cast of Gray’s Anatomy and The X-Files and Pharrell Williams were some of the stars that posed on one knee.
Sunday afternoon, Ava DuVernay said: “I am not a spectator, viewer or supporter of the Super Bowl today, because of the racist way in which Kaepernick has been treated and because the NFL ignores the health and well-being of the players. Watching this game is at odds with what I believe. It is not worth it. “Rosanna Arquette responded with” Me Too “.
Other stars took the opportunity to take action. Nick Cannon called his followers to transfer $ 7 to a foundation that Kaepernick set up, referring to the shirt number of the football player. Lena Waithe shared a photo of activist Angela Davis in a shirt with the imprint ‘I’m behind Kap’, Common placed the same photo with a quote from Davis: “I no longer accept the things that I can not change, I change the things that I can not accept. “
I will not be a spectator, viewer or supporter of the #SuperBowl today in protest of the @NFL’s racist treatment of @Kaepernick7 and its ongoing disregard for the health + well-being of all its players. To watch the game is to compromise my beliefs. It’s not worth it. #ImWithKap pic.twitter.com/fNEeke0crs
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 3, 2019
Me too
— Rosanna Arquette (@RoArquette) February 3, 2019
“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I’m changing the things I cannot accept” Dr. Angela Davis. #ImWithKap https://t.co/FobilXc7J0
— COMMON (@common) February 3, 2019
#ImWithKap #7Challenge! I am donating $7 to Colin’s Know Your Rights Camp. The number 7 symbolizes Kap’s jersey number. I challenge you to donate $7 to @YourRightsCamp and nominate 7 others to do the same. Go to https://t.co/Bonrfn2Jf2 and click donate. @Kaepernick7 pic.twitter.com/upSma6Hcxs
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) February 3, 2019