Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Stephen Cannella said Colin Kaepernick is missing from the magazine’s latest cover, which features several athletes linking arms in a nod to the NFL protests during the National Anthem over the weekend, to shed light on “the way new voices emerged” have emerged in the national debate.
“In some ways, even though his picture is not there, in some ways Colin Kaepernick is there, I think we all know that,” Cannella said during Tuesday’s “SI NOW.”
“Colin Kaepernick is, for a lack of a better word, looming over everything that happened this weekend, and looms over many issues in society right now,” he continued. “I thought what we were trying to capture with this cover is the way new voices emerged this weekend, and the way this debate, this issue, this protest movement has sort of evolved even beyond Colin Kaepernick.”
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“He’s the guy who sort of started it all, I think we see a lot more people in various ways sort of join the movement for lack of a better term this weekend. That’s what we were trying to capture with this cover,” Cannella went on. “Colin Kaepernick is on that cover, even if his face isn’t, and his name’s not there, we all know who stands behind this movement, we all know who got it started. Colin Kaepernick has many more brothers today than he did a week ago.”
Cannella’s comments came in response to backlash to the cover on Twitter, where users wondered why Kaepernick wasn’t featured since he started the movement last year, and remains unemployed for the 2017-2018 season.
For more on the reaction to the cover, head here.