CNN Sports Documentary Ignores Facts, Hypes Left-Wing Activists

Alex Christy
September 1st, 2026 3:43 PM

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Tuesday marked ten years since former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling before games, which coincided with Sunday’s Decades In Sports documentary on CNN. With the latest episode focusing on the 2010s, CNN also focused on the women’s soccer team’s equal pay lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation, but in both cases CNN left out some crucially important facts in order to gush over their left-wing activist heroes.

Kaepernick’s kneeling started on September 1, 2016, but he was first benched for poor play in November 2025 and then again in December 2016. Nevertheless, former WNBA player Diana Taurasi lamented the backlash to Kaepernick's stunt, “We needed to make sure that Colin knows that we have his back. And at the time, with so much social unrest, that was one of the things, as a league, we stood strong on. But, I think the reaction to what Colin did was shocking to all of us.”

 

 

CNN also left out the fact that Kaepernick went to Miami, of all places, and praised Fidel Castro. Nevertheless, The Muhammad Ali Reader editor Gerald Early mourned that social media backlash and fan opposition "became fodder for drumming him out of football.”

Ali biographer Jonathan Eig agreed, “Three years earlier, he led his team, the Niners, to the brink of the Super Bowl victory. But when he refused to give up his protest, he suffered for it.”

As did frequent MS NOW talking head John Heilemann, “There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the owners in the league joined together to basically deny him the ability to play at the NFL level, and Kaepernick got locked out.”

The only reference to Kaepernick not being a good quarterback came from Los Angeles Times journalist Sam Farmer, who did not press the case as hard as he should’ve, “There are people who say the NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick. There are people who say he was no longer a quality NFL starter, and are you inviting that controversy into your locker room? Maybe, ultimately, those teams determined that the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.”

Boston Globe columnist and editor Renee Graham then bragged, “He became a free agent. And I remember saying to someone, ‘If he is not signed by a team, I'm done with the NFL.’ And the 2017 season began and he wasn't signed, and I haven't watched a snap since.”

A short while later the discussion shifted to the women’s soccer team. ESPN’s Kendra Andrews recalled the team’s lawsuit against the USSF ahead of the 2019 World Cup, “They said, ‘We win more than the men. We sell more tickets. There isn't any reason why we shouldn't be paid equally.’ Now, all of a sudden, because of the lawsuit, the 2019 World Cup became so much more than just soccer.”

Taurasi echoed the sentiment, “When you talk about the World Cup, all the eyes of the world are watching, and that team, they were willing to say the things that were hard to say, and then be able to go back on the soccer pitch and back it up.”

 

 

Andrews added, “They go out and absolutely dominate that tournament. And when they won the World Cup and they were getting handed the trophy, the chants coming down from the crowd was all about equal pay. It was such a powerful moment to see on the world stage that these women just proved what they deserved couldn't really be denied.”

The reason why the women’s team was paid less than the men’s despite better on-field performance was two-fold. First, the women’s team—comprised of adults with their own free will—willingly chose a different collective bargaining agreement than their male counterparts and then cried sexism when they didn't like the results. Second, World Cup teams are also paid based on their performance from how much revenue FIFA—not the national federation—generates during the tournament. The men’s tournament still brings in much more revenue for FIFA than the women’s tournament.

CNN’s documentary didn’t mention any of that. Instead, Megan Rapinoe was seen taking a victory lap, “The justice comes in the next generation never having to go through what we went through. It's equal pay across the board from here on out.”

Why the USSF and men’s team folded to public pressure is a topic for another article. Since the current decade is not yet over, CNN will not be airing an episode on the 2020s, which means there will be no episode devoted to women athletes defending their sports from the trans activists. Even if they did, CNN would not be nearly as easy on them as they were on the factually challenged left-wing activists of the 2010s.

Here is a transcript for the August 30 show:

CNN Decades In Sports: 2010s

8/30/2026

9:44 PM ET

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Protest by Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers quarterback knelt instead of standing during the national anthem at last night's game.

RENEE GRAHAM: During the preseason in 2016, Colin Kaepernick was taking a knee to protest police brutality and racial inequality in America. It was a quiet protest. He wasn't being disruptive, but people focused on it.

REPORTER: What are you trying to accomplish?

COLIN KAEPERNICK: I'm seeing things happen to people that don't have a voice. You know, this country stands for freedom, liberty, justice for all, and it's not happening for all right now.

GRAHAM: And then, it just took on this sort of life of its own.

JONATHAN ABRAMS: Some baseball players did it. The women's soccer team did it, basketball players. He really lit something that was felt through just about every sport.

DIANA TAURASI: We needed to make sure that Colin knows that we have his back. And at the time, with so much social unrest, that was one of the things, as a league, we stood strong on. But, I think the reaction to what Colin did was shocking to all of us.

REPORTER 2: You can hear fans booed Kaepernick as he walked onto the field. The quarterback's protest has drawn criticism from people across the country.

SAM FARMER: Suddenly, the country was wrapped up in this controversy, and social media exacerbated the cracks that were forming in society. It was fuel to the fire.

CROWD: Kaep took the knee, 'cause he's fighting for me!

GERALD EARLY: This all became fodder for drumming him out of football.

JONATHAN EIG: Three years earlier, he led his team, the Niners, to the brink of the Super Bowl victory. But when he refused to give up his protest, he suffered for it.

JOHN HEILEMANN: There's a lot of evidence to suggest that the owners in the league joined together to basically deny him the ability to play at the NFL level, and Kaepernick got locked out.

FARMER: There are people who say the NFL blackballed Colin Kaepernick. There are people who say he was no longer a quality NFL starter, and are you inviting that controversy into your locker room? Maybe, ultimately, those teams determined that the juice wasn't worth the squeeze.

GRAHAM: He became a free agent. And I remember saying to someone, "If he is not signed by a team, I'm done with the NFL." And the 2017 season began and he wasn't signed, and I haven't watched a snap since.

…

KENDRA ANDREWS: And what makes this team even more special is what happened leading into the World Cup in 2019.

NORAH O’DONNELL: They filed a lawsuit in California on International Women's Day, which was Friday. It claims the U.S. Soccer Federation is in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

EMMA CARMICHAEL: The U.S. Women's Soccer Team, they made it the talking point that they were underpaid while far outperforming the men's soccer team.

REPORTER 3: The women's team has held the number-one world ranking for 10 of the last 11 years. The men's team is currently ranked 25th.

ANDREWS: They said, "We win more than the men. We sell more tickets. There isn't any reason why we shouldn't be paid equally."

Now, all of a sudden, because of the lawsuit, the 2019 World Cup became so much more than just soccer.

TAURASI: When you talk about the World Cup, all the eyes of the world are watching, and that team, they were willing to say the things that were hard to say, and then be able to go back on the soccer pitch and back it up.

ANDREWS: They go out and absolutely dominate that tournament. And when they won the World Cup and they were getting handed the trophy, the chants coming down from the crowd was all about equal pay.

CROWD: Equal pay! Equal pay!

ANDREWS: It was such a powerful moment to see on the world stage that these women just proved what they deserved couldn't really be denied.

O’DONNELL: The six-year battle for equal pay for members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team has finally come to an end with a landmark settlement.

MEGAN RAPINOE: The justice comes in the next generation never having to go through what we went through. It's equal pay across the board from here on out.

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