Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick's decision to not stand during the singing of the national anthem at games last season helped spark a national conversation about social inequality. News Ryan Fitzpatrick 'excited. Who is Colin Kaepernick? The 32-year-old Kaepernick played for the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2016 after starring at the University of Nevada. He became the starting quarterback for the.
Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend, Nessa Diab, may not be as well-known as her football-playing boyfriend, but the radio DJ and TV personality has led quite the impressive life. What's more, she may actually be the real reason behind Kaepernick's headline-making activism, including the #TakeAKnee movement.
Diab, who was raised for some time in Saudi Arabia, has spent the last decade building a name for herself on radio stations in California and New York and has even appeared on the small screen. If you're a fan of MTV and reality shows like Teen Mom, chances are she's a familiar face. When it comes to net worth, she may not be able to compete with the $22 million Newsweekvalued her beau at back in 2016, but she's still worth a cool $2 million herself, according to Celebrity Net Worth, which is nothing to scoff at. And there's lots that many don't know about the media personality. From speaking at the United Nations to repeatedly slamming the NFL, and even getting into beef with rapper Travis Scott, Diab is nothing if not outspoken. Here's the untold truth of Colin Kaepernick girlfriend, Nessa Diab.
Her childhood was dangerous
Described by GQ as an 'American Muslim who works in communities for social justice,' Nessa Diab is extremely proud of her heritage. Speaking on the Guy Code podcast in 2014, she revealed she was 'raised in Southern California,' but, before that, she spent time in Saudi Arabia after her dad's job transferred them there. Opening up about the realities of living through the Gulf War and often seeing disastrous attacks around her, she recounted, 'When 9/11 happened, it didn't surprise me at all,' explaining, 'This is what we went through, probably, every couple months.' Which, of course, likely didn't make things any less scary.
Since returning to the United States, Diab has repeatedly slammed social injustices against Muslims. When Alton Sterling was killed by two police officers in 2016, she wrote on Instagram, 'Don't let this 'system' now criminalize Alton Sterling to help justify these coward actions by the police. They will try and they will also try to discredit the store owner's account of what occurred because he's Muslim and we know Islamaphobia is at an all time high in this country.'
She's also made it a point to educate her boyfriend about her religion. Kaepernick told the The Washington Post in 2016 that 'the impact [of dating Nessa] is just conversations that we constantly have.' He elaborated, 'She is Muslim. Her family is Muslim, I have great respect for them.'
An impressive resume
Nessa Diab has quite the impressive resume. A Southern California native, she received her bachelor's degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley and went on to build an impressive career in radio and on the small screen.
Diab got her start at WiLD 94.4 FM in San Francisco before she eventually accepted a job at WQHT Hot 97, the New York City station 'where hip hop lives,' in January 2015. There, she snagged the coveted evening commute slot, hosting Nessa on Air, which is syndicated in over 15 markets across the country. Opening up about her then-new gig, she told Hip-Hop DX, 'As a woman, doing P.M. drive is everything!'
Diab has also become a familiar face on MTV. Over the years, she has hosted a slew of reality shows, including Teen Mom Aftershow, Girl Code Live, and The Real World After Show. In April 2018, she was named the newest host of NBC's four-time Emmy-winning show Talk Stoop, which features candid celebrity interviews with everyone from Tyra Banks to Forest Whitaker.
She once dated Kaepernick's teammate
Before Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab made their relationship publicly official at a charity event during Valentine's Day weekend in February 2016, the radio personality was actually linked to one of Kaepernick's teammates, 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith. We're sure that was awkward situation, to say the least, and it reportedly sparked an altercation between the two men in August 2015.
As TMZ reported, citing what they called 'locker room sources,' not only did the two players get into a fight on the football field during practice at the San Francisco 49ers training camp, but, to make matters worse, things reportedly got physical. So physical, in fact, that one source told the outlet that 'players had to pull them apart.' Yikes.
Although there was never any confirmation of what actually caused the alleged fight, Fox Sports made the probable connection when reporting on Kaepernick and Diab's official relationship announcement, writing, 'Now we may know the reason for that on-field fight...'
Kaepernick's biggest fan
When Kaepernick landed his second GQ cover in 2017 (his first was in 2013), the outlet asked a number of personalities to weigh in on 'one of the most gifted quarterbacks on earth,' including rapper J. Cole, singer/activist Harry Belafonte, and Diab, who made it very clear she couldn't be prouder of her man. 'Colin has always been helping people, he has always been involved, because he has empathy,' she gushed. 'I'm very fortunate that I have Colin next to me. It's everything. We love each other, we care for each other, and we have to remind each other that, hey, we're doing our part, we're trying to make a difference.'
Diab has also sung the pro athlete's praises on social media. For instance, in August 2016, she tweeted a link to a San Francisco Chronicle article documenting Kaepernick's decision to continue kneeling and proclaimed, 'I'm always proud of him and always will be @Kaepernick7. Please take the time to UNDERSTAND what he is saying.'
The UN sure approves
In 2015, Diab was invited to speak at the United Nations in honor of Women's History Month, according to All Access. During her visit, she reportedly encouraged women and young girls to follow their career dreams while sharing her own experiences as a female working in media. She also moderated an open conversation about the stereotypes and barriers faced by many women in her field.
Speaking about the huge honor, Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend declared in a press release (via All Access), 'I believe on-air personalities don't have to be a male to attract young females or be an overtly sexual woman to attract males.' She also made sure to include a shout-out to her employer, gushing, 'HOT 97 has always been at the forefront of employing women as leaders, which is why I am here today. My bosses, Rick Cummings and Jimmy Steal, truly support women as key players and have given me the platform to help promote female equality.'
She may have influenced #TakeAKnee
Could it be that Kaepernick's iconic (and headline-making) #TakeAKnee movement wasn't originally his idea, but rather the brainchild of Diab? Several sources seem to think so.
In a 2017 feature titled 'The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick,' The New York Times pointed out that Diab, an outspoken activist herself, 'has had a measure of influence on Kaepernick's views over the past two years.' The outlet credited her with introducing the footballer to fellow activists like African American studies scholar Ameer Hasan Loggins, whom she asked to recommend books for Kaepernick.
Fox News made a similar observation, pointing out that — soon after the couple got together in late 2015 — Kaepernick's social media accounts began reflecting the 'Black Lives Matter and Muslim activism of Diab.' As they noted, '31 of his last 42 posts have strong social justice connotations,' with quotes from the likes of Malcolm X and Huey Newton, the founder of the Black Panthers. Sports blogger Terez Owens went even further, reporting that sources told him 'it was actually his girlfriend Nessa's idea for Colin to protest.'
Did she cost Kaepernick a job?
Following Kaepernick's headline-making #TakeAKnee movement, the quarterback became a free agent, but he was unable to find work. Believing it to be purely personal, he filed an official grievance that accused NFL owners of colluding together to push him out of the league. According to fellow player Ray Lewis, however, he couldn't find work because of Diab.
Lewis, who used to play for the Baltimore Ravens, told Inside the NFL (via The Guardian) that Kaepernick almost got a job in 2017, but a tweet sent out by Diab ruined that chance. 'We were going to close the deal to sign him,' he said. '[Ravens owner] Steve Bisciotti said: 'I want to hear Colin Kaepernick speak to let me know that he wants to play football.' And it never happened because that picture comes up the next day.'
Colin Kaepernick Wife
The picture in question was posted by Diab in August 2017, and it showed an image of Lewis and Biscotti above a still of Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio from the movie Django Unchained. In the film, Jackson plays a slave while DiCaprio plays his owner. '[Diab] goes out and put out this racist gesture and doesn't know we are in the back office about to try to get this guy signed,' Lewis elaborated. 'Steve Bisciotti has said it himself: 'How can you crucify Ray Lewis when Ray Lewis is the one calling for Colin Kaepernick?'
She keeps slamming the NFL
If there's one thing Nessa Diab refuses to do, it's keep quiet when she believes something to be an injustice. Which might explain why she can't stop slamming the NFL.
In May 2017, Diab was one of the first people to respond to a tweet from Bleacher Report that accused the NFL of 'shunning Colin Kaepernick because of his politics, not his play,' writing, 'Read ONLY if you want #facts. The truth will we set you free. Thank you again @mikefreemanNFL for FACTS.'
She became even more vocal in November 2018, responding to a tweet from The Athletic's Joseph Person who quoted Kaepernick's former teammate and friend Eric Reid as saying, '[Kaepernick] wants to play. He's ready to play.' Diab confirmed the statement... and added a BIG dose of shade. 'Colin trains everyday,' she tweeted. 'All the teams know. But they'd rather keep blackballing him. The league, owners and management are the ones who don't want him to play.' She added that 'journalists should ask the league why they're blackballing Colin.'
That December, Diab fired off at the NFL again, this time on Instagram. Sharing a photo of herself holding her boyfriend's hand, she wrote, 'I really don't like y'all. If it wasn't for @kaepernick7 I probably would have slapped the [poop emoji] out of all you clowns. But I'm a better person now. Lol.'
Watch out, Travis Scott
The 2019 Super Bowl LIII Halftime Show seemed to be marred in endless controversy, including beef between Nessa Diab and performer Travis Scott. After top choice Rihanna turned down the gig — 'She said no because of the kneeling controversy. She doesn't agree with the NFL's stance,' a source told Us Weekly — Maroon 5, Big Boi, and Scott accepted, sparking major backlash.
While a Change.org petition urged Maroon 5 to 'drop out' as a show of support for Colin Kaepernick, Diab took it upon herself to personally call out Scott. Soon after Variety reported that the rapper had reached out to Kaepernick via phone before confirming his involvement in the halftime show, Colin Kaepernick's girlfriend accused him of being a liar. Responding to a tweet sent out by Complex, which read, 'Travis Scott spoke to Colin Kaepernick about his upcoming Super Bowl halftime gig and sources say 'they emerged from the conversation with mutual respect and understanding,' Diab wrote, 'There is NO mutual respect and there is NO understanding for anyone working against @Kaepernick7 PERIOD. #stoplying.'
The killing of George Floyd by four Minneapolis police officers has created a surprising flashpoint, an acknowledgement by previously disbelieving white people of the violence historically inflicted upon African Americans and a sudden, jarring suggestion that America is ready to deal directly with the terrible truths that violence has entailed: Police treat black citizens harshly with devastating consequences. Prosecutors are reluctant to charge police. Juries are even more reluctant to convict them. In the rare case of a conviction, judges are unwilling to punish them with firm prison sentences -- if any jail time at all. Corporations across the country, including now the NFL, have pledged solidarity with their black citizens, seeking to reflect harmony by using the term 'Black Lives Matter.' Since the inception of the term, law enforcement agencies have co-opted it with their own 'Blue Lives Matter' while attempting to link the original with domestic terrorism -- a characterization that those same corporations using the term now did little to refute then.
Included prominently in the nationwide protests is the gesture of taking a knee toward the American flag. It's a distress signal indicating that the country has not lived up to the democratic ideals it spreads across the globe -- ideals it tells soldiers that their uniforms and flag represent, ideals Americans believe separate them from countries that jail, kill and otherwise silence their citizens. It is Colin Kaepernick's symbol, and it is used everywhere -- by children and high school students who reference him as their inspiration, and now by police and politicians to quell public anger directed at them to suggest finally, after so much time, a willingness to listen.
It is also the symbol NFL owners used as justification to destroy Kaepernick's NFL career. In 2017, it was the NFL that sent the message nationwide that kneeling was illegitimate, and by extension, criticism of police. Three years later, the NFL carries the greatest burden of any sports league to rectify the damage it now admits it has done.
After the sloganeering and statements, the NFL serves as a microcosm of the corrections Americans are now expecting. Kaepernick is not vindicated because he is still being punished. Nor did he reveal something black people did not know. He was punished for supporting them.
The league must answer the question of today's moment: Is this a reckoning, or is it a dance? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell released a recorded statement Friday night attempting to reconcile with players in response to a video players released Thursday night featuring Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes and several others demanding acknowledgement on the part of the NFL that their protests be taken seriously. But like other corporations across the country that have decried violence, racism and intolerance while barely mentioning police, Goodell offered condolences to the families affected by police brutality without acknowledging the reason people are in the streets in the first place: They want it to end.
At issue is whether Americans will undertake the journey of truth, a journey for which they have typically lacked the stamina and willpower to complete. From sports to Hollywood to politics -- but predictably not from police unions -- the corporate statements to engage have written a large and prominent contract with the public. But the omissions have not gone unnoticed, undermining the legitimacy of the sentiments that have captured the country. If the term 'police brutality' is so incendiary that it cannot be said, how can anyone be taken seriously when they say they want to fight it?
Goodell's statement also did not mention the name 'Kaepernick,' the surest sign yet that the NFL is unserious about the actual work that needs to be done to make this right. Goodell apologized for the NFL not listening to players, and even this basic, ostensibly conciliatory statement is false. The NFL did listen to players. It listened to Malcolm Jenkins. It listened to Anquan Boldin. It listened to white players, such as Drew Brees and its white ex-players-turned-broadcasters, such as Boomer Esiason, who were offended by Kaepernick's position. It listened to its white fans. The NFL did a lot of listening -- and concluded the course of action was to punish black people -- which they have not undone. Even when trying to reach the truth, Goodell still could not tell it.
Confronting the truth about racism and its effects is when America is not at its aspirational best, but its defiant, denying worst; it fails looking in the mirror at its true self in ways in which Germany and South Africa have succeeded. America has not yet proved it is willing to put in the hard work. Goodell's statement might have helped the NFL win the short-term battle to mollify its young stars of tomorrow, but it will lose in the long term because it is not Watson or Mahomes or Odell Beckham Jr. who require the apology. It is Colin Kaepernick.
The NFL heard a warning that America was fraying, and in response constructed an entire machine to undermine Kaepernick -- and became an active partner in dividing the nation. Buffalo Bills owner Terry Pegula conceived of the organization that would become the Players Coalition, led by Jenkins and Boldin, when he felt the league needed a player-run, black-player-headed organization to address injustice issues to neutralize Kaepernick's influence. Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross amplified it. Goodell and the NFL increased restrictions and penalties on kneeling demonstrations. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones threatened the employment of any player who knelt. And, of course, all 32 teams followed suit.
Colin Kaepernick Twitter
Part of that machine was Jay-Z at a roundtable with Goodell last year, saying of Kaepernick, 'This wasn't about him having a job. That became part of the discussion.' People at the table nodded obediently at this latest celebrity-class erasure tactic, insulting in its ridiculousness. It was absolutely about Kaepernick having a job. He didn't have a job because he was being punished by the NFL, not because he threw a wobbly spiral, but precisely because he advocated for black people. While Jay-Z told people to move on, Kaepernick's unemployment was an obvious part of the injustice. The NFL was the country's primary apparatus to demonize the kneeling gesture, and indirectly condone the very issue of police brutality it now says has no place.
Colin Kaepernick Settlement
It is the NFL's black fans who also require an apology from Goodell, because in punishing Kaepernick for drawing attention to the senseless killing of black citizens, the NFL chose killer cops over loyal fans, sending the message to them, as well as the players, that their concerns were unimportant compared to white fans who objected to kneeling. Black fans did not matter to the NFL. Now, Goodell could not mention Kaepernick by name but expects the public to believe that the NFL does.
Colin Kaepernick Net Worth
Tabula rasa is the Latin phrase for 'clean slate,' and at present, the image of thousands of Americans around the country kneeling in silent, somber protest to an issue contributing to the polarization of the nation is a powerful one -- one that the NFL cannot legitimately embrace without wiping the slate clean with Kaepernick. There is no third way. It is not possible to have reconciliation without truth, and the only way to reach the truth is by doing the hard work, the thankless work, the painful work of absorbing it, swallowing one's pride, admitting mistakes.
The NFL today is in real time America of the 1970s, when the country had to admit that it was wrong in its attempt to destroy Muhammad Ali. Finally, it did, and the world did not collapse, but it healed, as most wounds do with the proper treatment. A $15 billion industry that dominates the imagination of the public should have the strength to accommodate differing opinions, whether they belong to Kaepernick or Brees. But the only opinions that received league-wide punishment were Kaepernick's. If the league, both Goodell and to another extent Brees, expect the public to believe their statements, the next step toward real truth is opening the door to signing Kaepernick -- a move that has been closed for nearly four years. If it remains closed, this flashpoint will be remembered as the moment the NFL admitted it handed out a life sentence, admitted it was wrong -- and still did nothing about it.