Jenifer Lewis walked the 2018 Emmys red carpet last night in an style rarely seen at such events: Sportswear.
Ahead of the 70th primetime Emmy awards, the Black-ish star donned a red-and-navy sweatshirt with Nike’s iconic swoosh in white printed across the chest. She paired her statement sweatshirt with matching navy-colored leggings and black and white sneakers, Time is reporting.
The actress also took to her Instagram to post a photo of her outfit, captioned with the message: “Thank you Colin Kaepernick for inspiring me to be even more brave,” which she wrote in the form of hashtags. In addition, she included the hashtags #free #courage #standup #nike #togetherwerise.
The post quickly became one of her most popular, racking up more than 71,000 likes and more than 2,000 comments. Fans of the 61-year-old TV star liked her outfit and message.
“Not only did you ‘just do it,’ but you KILLED IT,” one Instagram user wrote, while another added, “What a woman! Also hella comfy to be at the Emmys in this right?”
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Lewis wore the outfit to stand in solidarity with Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose kneeling protests against racial injustice during the national anthem before football games sparked a social movement last year, Time reported. Kaepernick became the face of Nike’s new “Just Do It” campaign earlier this month, igniting yet another onslaught of controversy and fury from those who perceive the kneeling protest as a disrespect toward the American flag.
“I am wearing Nike to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality,” she told Variety on the carpet.
Ahead of the event, Lewis said she kept thinking about what measure she could take to make a statement.
“What can I do? What can I do that’s meaningful? I’ll wear Nike,” she said in the Variety interview. “I’ll wear Nike to say thank you. Thank you for leading the resistance! We need more corporate America to stand up also.”
Many critics of the quarterback’s movement protested against his deal with Nike by filming themselves destroying products from the company in the wake of the announcement. But Nike seems to be doing just fine. The company’s shares soared to an all-time record last week, trading as high as $83.90 a share on Thursday, beating its previous record, USA Today reported yesterday. Experts said the company took a chance on making controversial NFL free agent the face of its latest campaign, but the risk has apparently paid off.
