Sports Illustrated’s new cover honors sports protests — but leaves out the man who started it all

Sports Illustrated’s latest cover sends a clear signal to President Donald Trump: The country may be divided over you, but the world of sports is not.

The cover is a reference to Trump’s demand that the NFL fire anyone who is protesting during the National Anthem. Since the president’s initial tweet on Friday, hundreds of athletes have taken the knee during the National Anthem, stayed behind in their locker rooms as it goes on, locked arms, and spoken out against Trump in media.

But the cover has a major omission: It does not include Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL player who began the protests to speak out against systemic racism and police brutality. Kaepernick’s initial protests are the big reason these demonstrations began and why they drew Trump’s attention — yet he gets no credit on Sports Illustrated’s cover. (Sports Illustrated did not return a request for comment about the cover.)

This could show the evolution of the protests. As the demonstrations have grown in response to Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem, his original message about police and systemic racism has gotten lost. (Trump, for one, has outright dismissed that the protests are about race.) Instead, they’ve become more about athletes’ right to stand up to those who try to silence them, including the president.

For more on the ongoing feud between Trump and the NFL, read Vox’s explainer.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via