Kentucky fan threatens to "divorce" program over Colin Kaepernick ad

The University of Kentucky has no connections to Colin Kaepernick, but that didn’t stop one fan from emailing Mitch Barnhart to threaten to start cheering to the University of Louisville if UK didn’t drop its partnership with Nike.

USA Today’s Dan Wolken collected emails from Nike schools across the country following Nike’s ad campaign featuring Kaepernick, whose protests of racial injustice and police brutality during the national anthem sparked a movement in the NFL. Among them was an email from Charles Schweinhart, a Kentucky fan, to Barnhart, the school’s athletic director.

“My life, therefore my family’s life, revolves around U of K athletics,” Schweinhart wrote. “The news from Nike is very troubling. I can not support a company that rewards un-American actions. Will this cause me to divorce Kentucky? Should I start pulling for the Adidas school in Jefferson County. Help me. To leave the (Big Blue Nation) would cause my father to roll over in his grave, as well as making me change 3/4 of my wardrobe. I love the Cats. HELP.”

Schweinhart wasn’t the only one. Lawrence Hayes, a UK graduate, wrote both Barnhart and UK President Eli Capilouto to say the school would hypocritical to stay with Nike after taking Papa John Schnatter’s name off the business school following his racially insensitive remark.

“Since Nike has decided to align itself with those who profess hatred of America, it’s incumbent upon our university to sever any ties to that company just as you did with Papa John’s,” Hayes wrote. “Failure to do so is a clear admission that the University of Kentucky agrees with those individuals and companies that spew hatred of the United States of America.”

Some people have a lot of time on their hands.

[USA Today]

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