Too Famous to Protest: Far-Right Online Community Bonding Over Collective Desecration of Colin Kaepernick, Fame, and Celebrity Activism

Abstract

In 2016, National Football League (NFL) quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a high-profile protest of police brutality and mass incarceration that prompted outrage among far-right communities and media. Given the prominence and significance of Kaepernick’s protest, it is vital to study the far-right social media backlash that propelled boycotts of the NFL, drove news cycles, and positioned celebrity athletes as too privileged to protest oppression. My research is grounded in celebrity studies theory, sport media scholarship, and critical race theory. In this article, I establish the history of systemic racism in the United States that lingers in the microcosm of the NFL and sports media’s racist treatment of players; I then explore scholarship on celebrity, race, and power that provide a foundation for analyzing Kaepernick’s protest and the effort to desecrate his celebrity. Analysis of online far-right communities shows that Kaepernick functions as a target for collective far-right outrage, a focal point around which commenters could explore and define their common values, grievances, and identities.

A Scoping Review of Research on Online Hate and Sport

“…For instance, the targeting of female athletes is cited frequently as a potential barrier to female participation in sport (McCarthy, 2021). Indeed, expressions of online hate directed towards athletes or their representatives are characterised by researchers as a gatekeeping exercise in which perpetrators attempt to delegitimise the participation of particular marginalised groups (Doidge, 2015; Litchfield et al, 2018; Kavanagh et al, 2019; Duvall, 2020). Often, the abuse of athletes was triggered by a flashpoint event which informs the nature of the online hate, such as Duvall’s (2020) look at how NFL player Colin Kaepernick’s protest had galvanised far-right racists to enact co-ordinated abuse campaigns with an ideological fig-leaf of ‘justification’ based on his high profile ‘disrespecting’ of the anthem on the sports field.…”

“…It has also been noted that the growth of the far right, in countries such as the USA, Brazil, India and the UK, has contributed to much more academic attention given to online hate more broadly (see also, Matamoros-Fernández & Farkas, 2021). In the context of sports-related research, high profile protests such as taking the knee against systemic racism (Duvall, 2020), and campaigns against everyday sexism in sport (e.g., #morethanmean) (Antunovic, 2019), have immersed sport further into wider 'culture wars'. Furthermore, although the research field of online hate in sport is growing in terms of the number of publications, it is not yet possible to assess the impact of this work given its relative infancy.…”

“Stick to Sports” and Critical Sports Media Industry Studies

“…Yet, Kaepernick's actions to protest against police brutality and racism in America provoked severe reactions from fans and media personalities, including burning his jersey and a barrage of digital malice, culminating in being shut out by the NFL from playing football because of the protest (Coombs et al, 2020). Duvall (2020) shows how the "far-right" social media users denigrated Kaepernick's celebrity status, positioning black athletes as too privileged to participate in protest. Duvall inspects the uptake of Kaepernick's race, religion, and appearance; demarcating "collective far-right outrage" and shared far-right grievances used to frame Kaepernick as an egotistical bigot.…”

Venturing for Others, Subject to Role Expectations? A Role Congruity Theory Approach to Social Venture Crowd Funding

“…While such stereotypes harm fundraising performance in general (e.g., Anglin, Wolfe, et al, 2018;Younkin & Kuppuswamy, 2018), they substantially conflict with the role expectations attributed to social entrepreneurs-that a social entrepreneur should care for others and make the world a better place. Indeed, men of color can face backlash when advocating for social change if they appear to be in a position of power (e.g., Duvall, 2020), and becoming a social entrepreneur may trigger this due to the agentic associations of traditional entrepreneurs.…”