Nike has pulled its planned "Betsy Ross flag" shoes after Colin Kaepernick apparently expressed his concerns that the design was offensive.
The shoe, the Nike Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July, was slated to hit stores for the Fourth of July holiday and featured the original 13-stars version of the American flag on the heel (though whether or not Ross actually created the famous flag is a matter of debate).
But the Wall Street Journal reports Nike has shelved the shoe after Kaepernick and others expressed concern about certain historical aspects of the flag.
After images of the shoe were posted online, Mr. Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reached out to company officials saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery, the people said. Some users on social media responded to posts about the shoe with similar concerns. Mr. Kaepernick declined to comment.
In a statement to the WSJ, the company said, “Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag." Mashable has reached out for additional comment.
Kaepernick has yet to comment publicly on the matter.
Nike's decision to pull the shoes has created two new issues for the company.
First, the shoes were already shipped to retailers, according to the WSJ. They have asked those retailers to return the shoes back to the company to prevent their release.
Second, Nike is facing more backlash due to its relationship with Kaepernick. In September 2018, Nike unveiled Kaepernick as one of the faces of a new segment of its classic, ongoing "Just Do It" ad campaign which included an inspirational ad. That announcement was met with a mixture of support and derision, based largely around Kaepernick's national anthem protests.
And, as with everything connected to Kaepernick, the social media echo chamber exploded with reactions on the shoes' cancelation.
Fox News pundit Laura Ingraham, the same woman who told LeBron James to "shut up and dribble" and once compared migrant child detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border to "summer camps," was predictably irate, as were others who saw the decision as a direct attack on everything about America.
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But that's not the full story. It never is.
Some concern has also been raised that this specific flag has apparently been appropriated by various right-wing extremist groups like the "Patriot Movement."
And in 2016, the Greater Grand Rapids Branch of the NAACP complained that during a high school football game, students from a predominantly white school displayed a Trump banner and waved the "Betsy Ross flag" to taunt students from the opposing school which was predominantly black.
The incident created enough controversy to prompt an apology from the school superintendent who said, "To wave a historical version of our flag, that to some symbolizes exclusion and hate, injects hostility and confusion to an event where no one intended to do so."
Kaepernick supporters were quick to point this out on social media.
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And, so, an athletic shoe has led to more civil (and uncivil) online discourse over history, politics, and racism which is the most 2019 thing you could ask for.
Now all that's left is for President Trump to weigh in on Twitter and we'll have a "BINGO."
