Kobe Bryant defends Colin Kaepernick, would have protested national anthem too

Kobe Bryant said he would have protested the national anthem and taken a knee if he was still playing in the NBA.

Colin Kaepernick famously started a movement of taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality. His efforts effectively resulted in him being blackballed from the NFL where he did not play all of last season. Despite his NFL career likely being over, he had plenty of supporters, including those in the NFL and from retired NBA superstars.

Kobe Bryant counts himself as a big advocate of Kaepernick and told Jemele Hill of The Undefeated that had he been in the NBA this year, he would have taken a knee and joined the movement.

"“Yeah, I would have participated in it, for sure,” Bryant said. “I’m sure I would have gotten some flak for it. That’s fine. I think that Colin’s message was a very simple one. It was police brutality needs to stop. We need to take a look at that.”"

The NBA, unlike the NFL, does have a rule in place to prevent this, requiring players to line up in a dignified manner, the same rule the NBA enforced to suspend Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf in 1996.

Kobe went on to say he doesn’t think there would have been any issue in the locker room because the players he played with understand it’s a free country and there’s no harm in a peaceful protest. While Kobe understands he’d receive flak about it, which he definitely would have from the same people who didn’t understand Kaepernick’s protest, he doesn’t think it’s disrespectful toward the flag. In fact, Kobe thinks it’s very American to speak up and express themselves in a non-violent and peaceful manner.

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I’m also quite certain that if Kobe did play in the NBA this year and did protest, there’s zero chance he’d be exiled from the league.