Just hours before Colin Kaepernick was revealed as GQ’s latest cover star and named its Citizen of the Year, JAY-Z was showing love to the football player’s famed protest.
While performing in Miami on Sunday night (November 12) as part of his ‘4:44’ tour, JAY paused to address the crowd. He dedicated a track to those facing discrimination, weighed in on the inspiration behind the movement, and called for the strengthening of black community and collaboration. He said, via TMZ:
“This song, especially, is dedicated to anybody who’s been discriminated against, whether you black, whether you male [or] female, any type of discrimination. This song goes out to you tonight. I want y’all to understand, when people are kneeling and putting their fists up and doing what they’re doing, it’s not about the flag, it’s about justice. It’s about injustice. And that’s not a black or white thing, it’s a human issue. It’s a human issue. Everybody should feel the same way. If your 16-year-old child left the house, didn’t come back, everyone should be affected. That’s not a black or white issue, that’s a human issue. That’s a young person who lost their life senselessly. And black people in particular, we gotta get our shit together. We gotta start bossin’ up, we gotta start working with each other. We can’t be hired help. We’re not second-class citizens to anybody.”
This isn’t the first time JAY has shared public support for Kaepernick this year: he dedicated “The Story of O.J.” to the unemployed quarterback at the Meadows Festival and rocked a custom jersey touting the player’s name during his performance on the premiere of Saturday Night Live.