During continued social unrest perpetuated by Black Lives Matter activists, ESPN has openly promoted the return of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to the NFL ranks. It joined the BLM activists’ pleas for the popular football league to rehire Kaepernick after allegedly being blackballed by the league and team owners since his racial protests in 2016.

ESPN was believed to have turned a new leaf when former ESPN executive John Skipper resigned after a drug addiction scandal became public. Skipper’s replacement issued a new directive to its employees to avoid political subjects on its network. The self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports” recognized that its political bent and kowtowing to the Left hurt its ratings in the era of cable-cutting.

Analysts and writers at the network, such as senior columnist Howard Bryant, said that the NFL should rehire Kaepernick after proclaiming that it will respect the Black Lives Matter movement in the upcoming season and beyond. Bryant said that “it’s actually helpful” if Kaepernick plays football in the NFL once more. But Bryant nor other ESPN employees acknowledged Kaepernick’s divisive, anti-police rhetoric during his messy divorce from the league.

The sports network understood that political divisions in sports affected its ratings and viewership. The common rebuttal against politically-active athletes and sports commentators rang true at the time, which was, “Stick to sports.”

Kaepernick kneeled during the playing of the U.S. national anthem to protest police brutality, which sparked criticisms from NFL fans and from President Donald Trump. Kaepernick also donned a Che Guevara t-shirt during an interview while espousing his social justice beliefs and his kneeling protests. He wore socks depicting police officers as pigs during warm-ups on a different occasion, which sparked an outcry among families and friends of police officers.