Serena Williams Supports Nike Amid Colin Kaepernick Backlash, Says She’s ‘Especially Proud’

While many fans and celebs are speaking out against Nike amid the Colin Kaepernick backlash, there are plenty of others who have their backs, including tennis star Serena Williams.

Yesterday, Williams took to her Twitter account to let her fans know which side of the argument she stood on and it’s clear that she is proud of Nike for making the former NFL star the face of their new campaign, even though there are plenty of others who are really unhappy about it.

“Especially proud to be a part of the Nike family today. #justdoit,” she tweeted.

Along with the statement, Williams tweeted a black and white image of a little girl playing tennis. In the photo, the girl swings her racket as it appears as though she just whacked a tennis ball. And on the photo, there’s a message that reads, “It’s only a crazy dream until you do it.”

So far, the reviews on Serena’s tweet are mixed but it has received a lot of attention with over 39,000 retweets and 201,000 likes in addition to 1,500 comments and counting within less than a day of the post. Some of the tennis star’s followers applauded Serena for standing behind Nike while others slammed her for it.

“Thank you for speaking up Serena. You are a champion on and off the court!!”

“Disappointing you feel this way….gonna have to unfollow you. A true sacrifice is a young man whose sacrifice isn’t losing their job, it’s a young man losing his life while serving his country,” another follower wrote.

And this is not the first time that Williams has stood behind controversial quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Earlier this week, the Inquisitr shared a story on how Williams said that Kaepernick should be applauded for his actions.

“I think every athlete, every human and definitely every African American should be completely grateful and honored how Colin and Eric are doing so much more for the greater good, so to say,” Williams said. “They really use their platform in ways that is really unfathomable. I feel like they obviously have great respect from a lot of their peers, especially other athletes, people that really are looking for social change.”

As the Inquisitr reported yesterday, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was chosen by Nike as the face of their 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign. Along with the campaign goes a new Nike phrase reading, “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything,” with a picture of Kaepernick’s face.

Of course, this is referring to the notion that Kaepernick was basically banned from the NFL after he started the trend of kneeling for the national anthem before NFL games. Kaepernick says that he started kneeling in order to protest police brutality and systemic oppression against people of color, but many others think that it is disrespectful to kneel to those who are serving in the United States military.