Retired NFL star on Kaepernick controversy: Better to kneel than stand with hands up and 'get murdered

When former Seattle Seahawks star running back Marshawn Lynch announced Tuesday on TBS' "Conan" his support for San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem, he added a visual element for host Conan O'Brien and the audience.

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch (Image source: Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)

“With what’s going on, I’d rather see him take a knee than stand up, put his hands up,” Lynch said while rising from his seat and putting both hands in the air, “and get murdered.”

After invoking the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative that followed the Aug. 9, 2014, shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Lynch continued: “My take on it is: S**t, they got to start somewhere.”

Lynch added that if Kaepernick’s protest is the starting point, then that’s a good thing:

I just hope people open up their eyes to see that there’s really a problem going on and something needs to be done for it to stop. If you’re really not racist, then you won’t see what he’s doing as a threat to America but just addressing a problem that we have.

O’Brien followed up, saying it’s “not a threat to the game, not a threat to America.”

(H/T: Sports Illustrated)