AndrewBlakeNew York City – Men’s fashion magazine Gentleman’s Quarterly decided to hand out a “Citizen of the Year” honor for the first time and chose anti-police former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as their winner, comparing him to the likes of Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali.
GQ wrote they were “celebrating the man who became a movement.”
“He’s been vilified by millions and locked out of the NFL – all because he took a knee to protest police brutality,” the magazine wrote. “But Colin Kaepernick’s determined stand puts him in rare company in sports history: Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson—athletes who risked everything to make a difference.”
Except the only thing that Kaepernick has made a difference in is reducing the NFL viewership.
Kaepernick’s critics say the quarterback is unemployed because of his general attitude problem.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis said that the Ravens were in the process of signing Kaepernick as a backup quarterback when Kaepernick’s girlfriend Nessa Diab made a racist tweet Aug. 2.
Diab compared Lewis and Ravens’ owner Steve Bisciotti with the Samuel Jackson slave character and Leonardo DiCaprio slave-owner character from the movie Django Unchained.
His poor performance in recent seasons is another reason nobody has hired Kaepernick.
While he led the San Francisco 49ers to a 12-4 record at age 26 in 2013, the 49ers were a pitiful 3-16 with Kaepernick as their starting quarterback in his last two years in 2015 and 2016.
He asked to be released from the 49ers at the end of the 2016 season and hasn’t been signed by any other team.
Others have said Kaepernick’s antics would create a distraction in the locker room that wasn’t worth the controversy for someone who would only be a backup at age 30.
Kaepernick began his anti-police protests by kneeling in the 2016 NFL pre-season.
He wore socks during that pre-season that had cartoon pigs dressed as police. He also posted a photo on Twitter comparing a “runaway slave patrol” badge with a police badge.
GQ makes the claim that Kaepernick’s kneeling has kept him off a NFL roster.
“Approximately 90 men are currently employed as quarterbacks in the NFL, as either starters or reserves, and Colin Kaepernick is better—indisputably, undeniably, flat-out better—than at least 70 of them,” the magazine wrote.
GQ’s Facebook page was buzzing with angry readers.
“Your choice of this man is a direct insult to our military and law enforcement personnel,” a Jeff Finchum wrote on the GQ Facebook page announcing its decision. “You’ve chosen a rich spoiled millionaire who CHOSE to walk away from the NFL then cried collusion. A man who has feigned moral outrage when he himself has no morals. Your so called “progressive” magazine and supposed ideals have contributed to REGRESS American values and race relation. You ARE part of the problem and not the solution. A more appropo title for him would be Man-Child of the Year.”
“It’s obvious this was done for attention and shock value,” a Frank DeBlasi said on the Facebook page. “Sales must be seriously down with this magazine.”
GQ has ignored the real citizen of the year, Stephen Willeford, age 55.
Willeford is a plumber who received a call from his daughter while the Texas church mass shooting was in-progress, according to the New York Post.
She told him that a man wearing body armor was inside the church shooting worshippers.
Willeford didn’t hesitate, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Chief Freeman Martin, who said, “Willeford grabbed his rifle and engaged the suspect.”
He shot the killer, Devin Kelley, after he came face-to-face with the gunman as he came out of the church, hitting him through a gap in his body armor.
Kelley dropped his rifle and fled, and Willeford knew he had to go after him to make sure no one else would be harmed.
Willeford then jumped into a truck driven by resident Johnnie Langendorff, and the pair pursued Kelley until they ensured that he was dead.
Stephen Willeford risked his life to engage a killer in combat, and saved many lives. He’s the real citizen of the year – not an unemployed millionaire.
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