Colin Kaepernick’s decision to sit out the national anthem prior to San Francisco 49ers games had quite an effect on Colin’s jersey sales. As reported by the Inquisitr , some fans decided to burn Kaepernick jerseys. Other fans decided to buy Colin’s football jerseys in order to support Kaepernick’s protests against police brutality. Now, Colin’s football jerseys are in the news once more.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/776839306463903744
Elijah Scott is a 16-year-old who decided to wear his Kaepernick football jersey to work at his Kroger grocery store job for the company’s “Wear a Football Jersey Day” in Springfield, Ohio. However, as reported by the New York Daily News , Elijah was reprimanded by his Kroger manager for wearing the Kaepernick football jersey.
Scott was even sent home on Sunday for wearing the Kaepernick football jersey, even though Elijah reports that other Kroger employees wearing other NFL football jerseys were not sent home. It was Sunday, September 11 when Elijah wore his Kaepernick jersey for the start of the football season.
However, once Scott began bagging groceries at Kroger, before long Elijah found himself being sent home from his Kroger job.
As seen in the above Snapchat video, Scott labels his video with the word “discrimination” as Elijah is seen still wearing the red Kaepernick football jersey emblazoned with the No. 7 across the front as Scott describes being sent home from his Kroger job for wearing Colin’s jersey.
Instead of apologizing to Elijah and Scott’s mom, Diane Scott, when Diane called Kroger to find out why Elijah was sent home from his Kroger job that day, Kroger said Elijah showed “disrespect” to Kroger customers by wearing Colin’s jersey.
“‘It was September 11th and Elijah was on company time and would not be allowed to disrespect customers.’ They should’ve stood up for their employee and just let that customer go. My son didn’t do anything wrong.”
Elijah is receiving plenty of support online and on social media, now that Scott’s story about wearing his Kaepernick jersey is going viral.
Already on Twitter, the hashtag # BoycottKroger is beginning to gain steam.
On Facebook, news about Scott’s plight for wearing a Kaepernick jersey is gaining attention, along with lots of social media shares.
Meanwhile, the Kroger Facebook page is collecting a bunch of backlash for the Kroger manager’s decision to send Scott home for wearing a Kaepernick football jersey. Some of the comments on the Facebook page can be seen, as republished below.
“The manager who sent the employee home for wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey needs to be fired immediately, and the company owes him a public apology. If you all want to run a dictatorship of some sort where you don’t allow people to express their PEACEFUL freedoms then move your company to North Korea.”
“This company doesn’t believe in free speech or expression!”
“Kroger you have a moral responsibility to respond and act to these allegations swiftly…your silence will acknowledge your complicity in this discrimination.”
“Won’t be shopping at Kroger.”
“There Goes Another One. # BoycottKroger easy. I hate West Coast RalphsGrocery and trash box Food4Less anyway.”
“16 y/o ElijahScott works Kroger . Sunday was jersey day. He wore his Kaepernick7 .”
“Springfield, Ohio, Kroger store was worried about losing one customer. Looks like you’re losing a lot more nationwide now, including me.”
“Unacceptable, Kroger.”
“So…. Help me understand…it’s ok to where the jerseys of athletes convicted of domestic violence, DUIs and cheating….but not the one of the athlete that peacefully demonstrating the lack of justice for people of color?”
Meanwhile, the Inquisitr has reached out for a comment from Kroger regarding the Elijah Scott controversy over wearing his Kaepernick jersey and has not received a statement as of this writing.
Update : Kroger has apologized, as seen in the tweet from TMZ .
Kroger Supermarket — Apologizes For Sending Employee Home … For Wearing Kaepernick Jersey https://t.co/c5jUHVSz9f
— TMZ (@TMZ) September 16, 2016
[Featured Image by Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Images]
