Cowboys’ DeMarcus Lawrence calls backlash over Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad ‘childish’
Dallas Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence retweeted support for Nike’s Colin Kaepernick ad campaign but says he plans to stand for the national anthem this season.
Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who has been the face of a social injustice campaign by players for the previous two seasons, was tabbed by Nike as the face of its latest marketing campaign called “Dream Crazy.” A commercial narrated by Kaepernick was launched during the NFL’s season opener Thursday night.
Lawrence said it makes no sense to be upset over Nike using Kaepernick for the campaign. There have been multiple reports of angry fans burning Nike gear to protest Kaepernick’s involvement.
“I support my family and Nike is my family,” Lawrence said. ”I support Colin, for sure. Why shouldn’t I? Why hate on another man because he’s succeeding? No matter if it’s with Puma, Reebok. You shouldn’t ever hate on a man because you see him now getting paid for something you don’t believe in.
“You don’t believe in it, so what? You can’t change it. So why do you want to sit here and burn the great brand of Nike because you’re mad? It’s childish. It’s definitely childish,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said he and his teammates don’t have time to second-guess everything they do or say on a social issue when they’re trying to prepare each week during a season. The perception by some, who believe Cowboys players have toed the company line handed down by owner Jerry Jones with their anthem stance (see: Dak Prescott’s stance from training camp) doesn’t faze Lawrence.
“The crazy thing about our situation is we all have a job to do. If we sit here and think about what’s going to happen if we do this or we do that, we aren’t even doing our job,” he said. “We wouldn’t have time to think about our job.”
Lawrence said he’d love to help make change but his bank account isn’t big enough. And the ramifications for speaking out are too severe, he fears.
“I’ve got big plans, big dreams on different things on how I could change the way things are going in America but I’m not going to be able to do it,” he said. “How many people do you know with no money make changes in this world? Not too many.
“Money speaks for a lot of people. I feel it speaks for me, it gives me more of a word because just going out there and relying on somebody else to pay my bills because I wanted to speak up is unacceptable, especially with a family.”
Lawrence said he intends on keeping his business of playing football separate.
“I really don’t care about what everybody else feels,” Lawrence said before the interview was stopped by Cowboys’ media relations. “I’m going to stand for the anthem, I’m going to be there. Then again, I came to play football. I’m going to keep it strictly football and off the field I can handle my business otherwise.”