Comedian and podcast host Adam Carolla launched a pointed attack on former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick during a recent episode of his show, accusing him of exaggerating his physical appearance to appear “more black” and calling him a “race hustler.”
The comments came as Kaepernick has been making media appearances to promote his new autobiographical book, during which he has repeated past criticisms of the NFL and American race relations.
Carolla, referencing Kaepernick’s large afro, said on his Adam Carolla Show podcast: “You don’t present as black! The reason you have a 26-foot Afro now is you’re trying to present as black. You don’t present as black! It drives me nuts.”
He went further, claiming that photos of a younger Kaepernick showed someone who looked “more Middle Eastern than black.” “He looked like a Syrian cab driver. He does not look like a black guy,” Carolla said, adding that Kaepernick could just as easily be mistaken for Mexican, Armenian, or Jewish. “It’d take me a long time to get to black,” he said, describing how he might have guessed Kaepernick’s background without prior knowledge that he is of mixed black and white parentage.
Carolla broadened his criticism to other prominent mixed-race public figures, including former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting they too have emphasized one half of their heritage over the other.
“All I’m saying is, ‘What about momma?’ I thought we were empowering women here. Why is she getting fucked?” Carolla said. “Kamala Harris did the same thing [as Obama and Kaepernick]. Kamala Harris got a black dad, got an Indian mom; black dad abandoned, Indian mom raises her, and she identifies as what? Not the person who raised her!”
Carolla argued that Kaepernick’s choice to identify primarily as black undercuts his own claims that America is racist toward black people. “Why are you bending yourself into pretzels being black, if that’s the one we don’t like?” he said.
The remarks come as Kaepernick has again described the NFL’s treatment of players and draft prospects in stark terms, saying this week that the league acts like “slave masters” toward athletes.
Neither Kaepernick nor his representatives have publicly responded to Carolla’s comments.
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