Spike Lee promotes rally for Colin Kaepernick at NFL headquarters

The Colin Kaepernick saga has produced plenty of “I never thought I’d see that” moments, and here’s another: Legendary movie producer Spike Lee is promoting a rally at NFL headquarters on Aug. 23 for the unemployed quarterback.

There have been plenty of players who have faded out of the league, even some with reasonable fanfare, but not many get a protest at the league office in New York.

It’s not a Spike Lee joint – the Justice League NYC and the Empowerment Movement are two of the groups listed on the announcement (in which it appears Kaepernick’s name is missing an “e”). Lee made it clear he didn’t organize the rally. There was a similar protest in May outside the league offices, as The MMQB reported on, with about 50 protesters. With Kaepernick’s story being the biggest of the NFL offseason and him still remaining unsigned, there might be a bigger group this time around. Especially with Lee getting the word out about it.

Lee was already upset about the Kaepernick situation in March. He posted on Instagram that it was “fishy” there was no interest in the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who had a solid 2016 season but was better known for his national anthem protest. Almost five months later, a bunch of quarterbacks without Kaepernick’s résumé have been signed by various NFL teams. Lee tweeted about the rally two days after the Miami Dolphins passed on Kaepernick to sign Jay Cutler, which doesn’t seem like a coincidence.

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A rally at NFL headquarters probably isn’t going to accomplish much. Even though it’s clear Kaepernick’s protest is a reason he is unsigned, it’s very, very hard to believe the league itself is orchestrating it. The NFL has had a lot of missteps but it’s not so dumb it would send a memo telling teams to not sign a player with Kaepernick’s profile. Had that actually happened, someone would have leaked it long ago. So it’s hard to believe the league office is explicitly holding up Kaepernick being signed, but it’s difficult to protest at each of the 32 team facilities.

Kaepernick likely needs a season-ending injury to a starting quarterback to get a shot, and even then it’s not guaranteed. He has been available for more than five months and the Seattle Seahawks are the only team we know has directly spoken to Kaepernick about a job. There’s no reason to believe Kaepernick will sign with a team anytime soon, and there will be a rally Aug. 23 to let the NFL hear about it.

Spike Lee is promoting a rally for Colin Kaepernick, which is scheduled for Aug. 23 at NFL headquarters. (AP)
Spike Lee is promoting a rally for Colin Kaepernick, which is scheduled for Aug. 23 at NFL headquarters. (AP)

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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