JAY-Z and Colin Kaepernick have conflicting stories about whether or not the two had a conversation prior to the announcement of Roc Nation’s deal with the National Football League.
On Wednesday (August 14), Hov told reporters he spoke to the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback before announcing his partnership with the NFL. Kaepernick’s girlfriend Nessa and his attorney Mark Geragos deny any such talks occurred.
Reports about JAY and the NFL’s agreement surfaced Tuesday (August 13), but the two sides formally revealed the deal at a press conference on Wednesday. Roc Nation will serve as the league’s “live music entertainment strategist,” and Hov will be involved in the NFL’s social justice initiative Inspire Change.
At the presser, Hov was questioned often about Kaepernick. According to the New York Times, the Roc Nation boss was specifically asked about whether the QB-turned-activist, who sparked the racial injustice protests in the NFL by kneeling during the national anthem, would be involved in the deal.
“You’d have to ask him,” JAY said. “I’m not his boss. I can’t just bring him into something. That’s for him to say.”
Kaepernick has been out of football since becoming a free agent in 2017. He accused the NFL of colluding to keep him out of the league that same year, filing a grievance that recently ended with a settlement being reached.
While many people believe Kaepernick has been blackballed by the NFL for his protests, JAY believes his partnership with the league is about something bigger than the former QB’s employment status.
“Everyone’s saying, ‘How are you going forward if Kap doesn’t have a job?’ This was not about him having a job,” he explained. “That became part of it. We know what it is — now how do we address that injustice? What’s the way forward?”
In Hov’s mind, his deal with the NFL is the next step in following up Kaepernick’s protest.
“I think that we forget that Colin’s whole thing was to bring attention to social injustice, correct?” JAY said, according to Rolling Stone. “So, in that case, this is a success. This is the next thing. ‘Cause there’s two parts of protesting. You go outside and you protest, and then the company or the individual says, ‘I hear you. What do we do next?’
“So for me it was like, action, actionable item, what are we going to do with it? Everyone heard and we hear what you’re saying, and everybody knows I agree with what you’re saying. So, what are we going to do? So, we should — millions of millions of people — and all we get stuck on [is] Colin not having a job.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also addressed questions about his league’s partnership with JAY being “disingenuous” without Kaepernick’s involvement.
“We talked about a variety of issues,” he noted. “I think when we first met we talked about entertainment and how we do that, but the number one thing we went to was impact. We can have an impact together. We can do some really positive things in our community. So to go to JAY’s point, we listen to our players.
“We understood what our players were saying and we created a platform, in which to help drive change in communities that Colin has raised and that other players have raised. This partnership in addition to the entertainment aspect of branded football and music together is going to help us make even greater change. We call it protest to progress.”
But the deal isn’t sitting well with some observers. Kaepernick’s former teammate Eric Reid and activist Shaun King are among the notable critics.
Check out some of the reactions below.
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Wow, who gives a shit? Guess I do though…Get that NFL money Hov
Couple things here, Jay Z or anyone else for that matter is not required to consult with Colin about ANYTHING. Colin took a stand and I applaud him, but that doesn’t make him a gate keeper of anything. Secondly, for all of these folks that are suddenly mad at the NFL again, I just wonder if they haven’t watched a football game, played fantasy football etc since the whole Colin thing started.
Sorry, what did he take a stand for exactly? The fact that there are 8X as many black people in prison by populous over any demographic? Or the fact that more blavk people kill other black people in one year in 3 US cities, than cops have killed blacks in the last 5 years combined? LOL.
Cry me a river
Why do people like you keep coming to this website to shit on blacks. Don’t bother answering, we all know why. #ClosetWhiteSupremacist
Kap need be a man and check his girl….and speak for him self…
Jay z is a clown, kaepernic is a clown, roger goodell is a clown, the nfl are clowns, shaun king is a clown, black lives matter are clowns, blue lives matter are clowns…most of all everybody getting race baited and arguing about it are clowns. Everybody involved is a clown.
Preach!
JayZ been a sellout capitizing and exploiting black people when he has a chance. Do not be fooled, he is a billioanaire and he has no black friends in his circle of friends. He is surrounded bu crackkkas and he lives to please them.
Hahahaha. Crakkkas huh? I’m sure you live in an all black owned building, work for only black people, and only have black friends. You also don’t use automobiles, smartphones, the internet, vaccines and electricity. How did you even post that? Telepathy? LOL you’re a racist idiot. You wouldn’t survive a day in africa, that’s if you are black. I doubt it…
Lol stay triggered YT.
How has Jay-Z exploited black people???
Nessa is a bird. She was fucking his teammate before him. Now she and Kap are freedom fighters. His career was going down hill so he needed a new brand. That’s all this ever was.
mf’ers JUST NOW waking up to Jay being a sellout? Lol that Nets switcheroo – and plenty other instances – shoulda been woke people up but nah, his sycophants only respect the hustle. he raps well but that nukka been willing to peace-out his skinfolk for the bag, and he’s not alone…
Damn, for someone who has been unrightfully shot and beaten by the police several times, Kaep sure looks healthy. Kind of crazy that Kaep is worth $30Mil and Jay-Z is worth a billion, with all of this systematic racism going on. Didn’t Jay-Z stab a dude and get away with it? Doesn’t he brag in his songs about pushing metric tons of coke to minorities? How come the cops never shot or beat him? Very confusing.
It’s collectively do our part in guaranteeing a second term for Trump, as wealthy privileged black men in 3…2…1…
NFL wants back customer loyalty through HOV, for their Corporate Social Responsibility. This is not just a commercial deal, it is more of social marketing. It is what it is.
Smart move on the NFL’s part. They went and hired the biggest sellout to repair their image. For the right price jay z will say anything they want. As he said himself, he himself is a “business” man, and as we all know that businesses exist primarily to make money.
Wow. Kaep has admitted the cops have never profiled him, he’s never been harassed. Dude is worth 20 million. Jay is worth a billion. Can someone explain to me how they both look so healthy after being shot repeatedly and beaten unjustly by the police? I would also like to know how they both amassed so much wealth with all that systematic racism going on. Strange, huh?
It’s called investments dipshit
So, dipshit, with systematic racism you’re allowed/can make money from investments? LOL. Sounds like YOU are the dipshit. The point is, if systematic racism REALLY existed, no one would negotiate with them, represent them, they wouldn’t have made the money to begin with. Way to tackle a serious issue by just throwing a nonsensical word in there, accompanied by “dipshit.” Did the Hebrews “invest” in Germany around the time of WWII. Nope. They couldn’t, due TO SYSTEMATIC RACISM AND THE COPS KILLING THEM.
so when do the mafia chop his head off and put it in someones bed with someone unsuspecting it being there.
Hov has always been a vulture. Look at his past… cut his brothers throats with rocafella, all his Roc family was just cold shouldered and left to nothing, screwed over DMX when he headed up def jam. His last number of albums went #1 only because he bought them (example sprint) etc. Will give him credit, hes a hustler for sure… but a vulture.
Jay z is a capitalistic first, listen to every album again-nobody should be shocked
How are we going to change anything if we dont have a seat at the table????Protests dont work, BLM didnt work, Kap situation ultimately didnt work… so how? I do question the move, but understand the intentions.
BLM didn’t work because it was bullshit. It was proven to be statistically false. It’s kind of funny how that was a HUGE issue leading up to Trump being elected, then it disappeared. Strange, right? Kind of like the mass shooting/gun control shit is a huge issue now. People aren’t talking about the fact that more people have dies by firearms (98% pistols) in Chicago alone this year, compared to EVERYONE killed in mass shootings across the US, combined during the same time frame. All of those victims in CHI are people of color, so I guess there is no platform. SMH
You’re a part of the problem. What do you know about capitalism? Capitalism taken to an extreme would be that everything is for sale, including your family and ultimately yourself, which is what jayz is being called out for. He sold out his partners at roca fella, was hated by all the og’s at def jam like method man and ll cool j and really didn’t do shit for beanie after using him as muscle for years. He even sold out his family for a nut. Get over it, jay z is a sell out.
So the fuck what??? Let Jay-Z do him and deal with the consequences… Get your money fam, don’t worry about what Jay-Z doing! Jay-Z this, Jay-Z that…
Jay-Z only ever pops up to get some money. Anyone really surprised at this?
Ppl kill me with this Jay ish!! Who is the biggest artist and who has the biggest impact in music period….Jay!! So who bailed most ppl out of Jail doing the Mike Brown riots, who helped Meek Mills out, who did or is doing the documentations on Travon Martin, Mike Brown, and Emit Till… Hurrican Katrina, 911 …he always helped and yall talking bout Kap ish!! Is it social injustice or are we talking about Kap (who got paid….we dont even know how much or what was the agreement) not getting a chance to play again? Like Jay said in a song “What are we really talking about?”
You’re a blind lemming. You know nothing and cant see what’s right in front of you. This is the reason why the phonies of the world; The jay z’s, the beyonces, the trumps and the Clintons are flourishing.
My guy. ..If it wasnt for someone on the inside to allowing MLK Jr to have his famous “I have a Dream speech” at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC…. let me stop!! I see ya moves Jay!! Checkers and Chest players are not the same!!
What does that even mean? You said absolutely nothing right there. You just repeated the same garbage jayz spits to justify his garbage with his whole checkers and chess metaphor. The truth is hes only in it for himself, you don’t have facts that prove otherwise and you’re a lemming living vicariously through someone else’s success.
This is exactly why I no longer identify with the left. Jay Z is promoting social justice. You got what you wanted. But you can’t ever be satisfied. Now you’re mad that he’s making money? Do you communist fruits understand that your ideology has literally never worked in the history of this world? Capitalism isn’t perfect, but it’s the reason you can complain on the internet while sitting in your mom’s house.
This headline is flat out a lie. Nessa wan’t calling out Jay for lying, she was calling out TMZ for lying and making up a story.
You ARE paying attention!!
Hov is a SNAKE! He was telling a lot of black artists (ie. Travis Scott) not to perform during Superbowl because of how they treated Kap but was secretly plotting all along with the NFL to take over and control all future Superbowl halftime entertainment. He pulled this same scam with Barneys when they were discriminating against his people. He cut a deal with them too, smdh
Jay-Z this, Jay-Z that… Get off Jay-Z dick!
Jay – I know i’m contradicting myself, look i dont need that now
It’s like the election you go vote but the white man put in who they want
It’s amazing how stupid you are. Nice grammar. How did Obama get in?