Colin Kaepernick isn’t returning to the NFL, but he’s still getting endorsements, and using the proceeds for a good cause.
The blackballed and long-time vegan quarterback is teaming up with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for a new flavor, “Change the Whirled,” a play on his fight against police brutality and racial injustice.
It’s a non-dairy flavor that will be out in early 2021 and will have his face on it.
Kaepernick announced the collaboration and said he will donate all of the proceeds to Know Your Rights Camp, which he founded. Ben & Jerry’s will match his donations.
“That very much is our approach, this idea we can help normalize and reinforce these ideas to a more mainstream, general population audience,” Chris Miller, who is Ben & Jerry’s head of global activism strategy, told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not a particularly radical notion to suggest that police forces and policing probably are not the best way to handling things like mental health crises and substance abuse, and contextualize them for people what a different vision of public safety looks like.
“We sit in a unique place where, I think, we’re able to do some of that work that speaks to this more mainstream audience.”
Kaepernick started a trend of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem as a form of peaceful protest in 2016. After parting ways with the 49ers prior to the 2017 season, he’s been out of the league.
In 2017, .NBC Sports reported teams were questioning Kaepernick’s commitment to the sport because of his vegan diet.