Enes Kanter Details How Protests Soured His Relationship With Kaepernick

It seems that what started out as a good relationship between Enes Kater Freedom (ex-Boston Celtics forward) and Colin Kaepernick (awash in NFL wannabe), has ended badly.

Speaking with Outkick’s Tomi Lahren on “Tomi Lahren is Fearless” on Monday, Freedom outlined the details of how his relationship with Kaepernick began and ended. After Kanter started making headlines by protesting against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2016, the NBA-star reached out to Kaepernick for some tips on how to use his platform more effectively. Evidently, these conversations brought out some great results.

I told him all about the Turkish problems. He was shocked and asked me what I could do to raise awareness. Freedom agreed. He gave me many tips.”

But things were different when Kanter named Nike as his next target. Kanter was critical of Nike for using Chinese slave labor to make their apparel, as well as any athletes who were earning money from sponsorships (like LeBron James and Kaepernick). 

Related: Sports World Riots Over Jack Del Rio’s Jan. 6 Comments

Money over Morals for the “King” 👑

Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice

They really do “shut up & dribble” when Big Boss 🇨🇳 says so

Have you done any research on the slavery that produced your shoes? pic.twitter.com/YUA8rGYeoZ

— Enes FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) November 18, 2021

Kanter made the following statement about Nike last November

Nike is to me the most hypocritical company. They are a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter USA, which is amazing.

Obviously they are using these players to become the face (of Nike) like Cristiano Ronaldo for soccer, LeBron for basketball and some of the other athletes, but they’re becoming puppets. I feel like we need to be careful of what we are wearing because every time you put those items on your feet or on your back, there’s so much blood and sweat and so much oppression on those items, so be careful.

That’s when things went south between Kapernick and Freedom. Kaepernick, who had made millions from endorsement deals for Nike, cut all contact with Freedom after Freedom criticized Nike.

Freedom replied, “I’ve been messaging him but no response.” “I just hope that he doesn’t see my texts, but he was my best friend. I still wish he were my friend.”

Kanter discussed all of this and more during his interview with Lahren.