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Colin Kaepernick offers harsh assessment of Clinton, Trump after debate

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has become a key figure in a growing protest against racial inequality, had a harsh assessment of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump a day after the first presidential debate.

Sociologist Harry Edwards on 49ers Colin Kaepernick controversy 01:24

“To me, it was embarrassing to watch that these are our two candidates,” Kaepernick said Tuesday. “Both are proven liars and it almost seems like they’re trying to debate who’s less racist. And at this point, talking with one of my friends, it was, you have to pick the lesser of two evils, but in the end, it’s still evil.”

Kaepernick also responded to a statement Trump made during an August radio interview in which he said Kaepernick’s anthem protest wasn’t “a good thing” and that the athlete might want to find a country that works better for him.

Kaepernick said it was “a very ignorant statement, that if you don’t agree with what’s going on here and that if you want justice and liberty and freedom for all that you should leave the country.”

The quarterback has previously said he will continue to kneel during the anthem. 

 “When there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand,” he said. 

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