A former football star has said in a new interview that the National Football League gave players “hush money” to stand during the national anthem.
Walker, the Philadelphia Eagles legend, called the offer “hush money.”
“The league gave the players a large sum of money toward their cause. That’s hush money,” he said.
Walker then tore into Colin Kaepernick, who started the protests in the 2016 season, saying Kaepernick wouldn’t have started the protests if he hadn’t been demoted to backup quarterback.
He also said the protests were disrespectful to the military.
Kaepernick said after the protests started that he kneeled to try to effect change.
“To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Since that season, Kaepernick has not played again in the NFL, a sequence of events that some attribute to him being the leader of the protests.