Colin Kaepernick Settles Blacklisting Lawsuit Against NFL
Colin Kaepernick Settles Blacklisting Lawsuit Against NFL
(Bloomberg) -- Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick agreed to quietly settle his lawsuit accusing the National Football League of colluding to prevent him from securing a contract as a free agent.
Two seasons ago, Kaepernick started to kneel rather than stand during the national anthem before games as a protest against police brutality and racial injustice. He filed a grievance against the NFL in November 2017, saying he had been retaliated against by NFL owners for his political stance. Last year he defeated a bid by the NFL to dismiss his case.
The settlement is confidential and there won’t be further comment by any party, Kaepernick’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, said Friday in a statement posted on Twitter. The former quarterback hasn’t played in the league during the past two seasons.
The player has claimed comments made by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence discouraged the NFL and individual team owners from hiring him and his ex-teammate Eric Reid over the expression of their views on police brutality in the U.S. Trump has exhorted NFL owners to fire players who take a knee during the national anthem. “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out. He’s fired,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Huntsville, Alabama.
Reid also settled his collusion case against the NFL, according to Geragos’s statement.
Reid, who participated in protests during the national anthem, wasn’t signed by the Carolina Panthers until after the start of the regular season last year on what he claimed was about the league minimum. Last month he signed a new three-year, $22 million contract with the Partners, which he told the Associated Press was proof that the NFL owners conspired to keep him out of the league.
To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Steve Stroth
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