An Analysis of Colin Kaepernick, Megan Rapinoe, and the National Anthem Protests - PDF

Research Article Communication & Sport 2019, Vol. 7(5) 653-677 An Analysis of Colin ª The Author(s) 2018...

Research Article Communication & Sport 2019, Vol. 7(5) 653-677 An Analysis of Colin ª The Author(s) 2018 Article reuse guidelines: Kaepernick, Megan sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/2167479518793625 journals.sagepub.com/home/com Rapinoe, and the National Anthem Protests Samuel H. Schmidt1, Evan L. Frederick2, Ann Pegoraro3, and Tyler C. Spencer2 Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the Facebook narrative surrounding Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe’s activism as crafted through user comments on their respective public Facebook pages following the athletes’ protests during the national anthem. A total of 85,649 users’ comments were collected and analyzed within the context of framing. The themes emerging from the data suggested a strong nationalistic narrative, with some accompanying narratives addressing the issues Kaepernick and Rapinoe desired to highlight through their activism. The nationalistic frames discussed what constituted American values and the conse- quences for not conforming to those values. The non-nationalistic themes targeted the social issues related to the two athletes. In terms of differences between the two athletes, users attacked Kaepernick’s specific characteristics (i.e., race and sex), while Rapinoe’s data contained discussions surrounding the role of athletes. Impli- cations of these findings will be discussed further. Keywords activism, Kaepernick, Rapinoe, anthem, nationalism 1 Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA 2 University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA 3 Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada Corresponding Author: Samuel H. Schmidt, Wilkes University, 169 S Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18766, USA. Email: [email protected] 654 Communication & Sport 7(5) On August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, sat on the bench during the national anthem of a preseason football game against the Green Bay Packers (Wyche, 2016). Fans and the media labeled Kaepernick as anti- American for sitting during the sacred pregame ceremony (Peter, 2016). After dis- cussing his actions with former Green Beret and former National Football League (NFL) player, Nate Boyer, Kaepernick switched to kneeling during the anthem as to not be perceived as disrespectful toward the military (Schilken, 2016). Still, Kae- pernick’s backlash included verbal condemnation from current and former NFL players (Tennery, 2016), being labeled a traitor by an NFL executive (Mandell, 2016), videos of fans burning his jersey (Breech, 2016b), his jersey being used as a doormat (Breech, 2016a), and death threats (Boren, 2016). Despite claims that Kaepernick was being disrespectful to the U.S. military and the nation, Kaepernick continued to kneel during the national anthem for the remainder of the 2016–2017 NFL season. On September 4, 2016, Megan Rapinoe, a female soccer player for the Seattle Reign of the National Women’ Soccer League (NWSL) and U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT), mirrored Kaepernick’s protest during an NWSL game. Once again, the media called Rapinoe’s nationalism into question as she was labeled as being anti-American (Hays, 2016). During her next NWSL game, 3 days later, the Washington Spirit organization played the national anthem before Rapinoe took the field to prevent her from “hijacking our organization’s event to draw attention to what is ultimately a personal-albeit worthy-cause” (Becker, 2016, para. 4). Addi- tionally, in early 2017, U.S. Soccer instituted a policy requiring players to stand during the national anthem after Rapinoe kneeled again during the national anthem, this time as a member of the USWNT (Zoppo, 2017). Both Kaepernick and Rapinoe were labeled anti-American, anti-military, and anti-nationalist for kneeling during the national anthem before their respective games. However, their message had little to do with nationalism and nothing to do with the U.S. military. Instead, Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem as to not “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color” (Wyche, 2016, para. 3). Rapinoe’s protest was a “nod to Kaepernick” (Brin- son, 2016, para. 3) and a message about her experienced inequality as a lesbian woman (Madu, 2017). Despite both athletes repeatedly claiming their messages were about oppression of marginalized populations, a line of rhetoric existed in the media that focused on nationalism, or lack thereof, as a result of the protests (Martin & McHendry, 2016). Therefore, the question becomes, did the public latch on to nationalism narrative presented by the media or the original narratives of Kaepernick and Rapinoe? In other words, does the public accept the anti-nationalism frames as presented by the media or do they reframe the athletes and their protests in terms of other issues (e.g., race, gender equality, sexual orientation) via public forums (e.g., social media sites)? Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the Facebook narrative surrounding Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s activism as crafted through comments on Schmidt et al. 655 their respective public Facebook pages. On one hand, there were obvious claims that the athletes were being anti-American for kneeling during the anthem (Hays, 2016; Wyche, 2016). On the other, the athletes made repeated claims that their activism was related to other issues (Wyche, 2016). Therefore, the researchers wanted to determine whether user dialogue included nationalistic frames and, perhaps more importantly, the researchers wanted to know whether user dialogue reflected Kae- pernick and Rapinoe’s intended messages and whether there was convergence or divergence in terms of user commentary between the two athletes. The study sought to understand the public sentiment toward Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s activism with the goal of understanding the new reality of activism in the digital age. Literature Review Framing and Bottom-Up Framing Gamson and Modligliani (1987) characterize frames as packages used to character- ize an issue. Furthermore, Tewksbury and Scheufele (2009) stated, “A frame is what unifies information into a package that can influence audiences” (p. 19). Through the framing process, various aspects of reality are discussed, making the resulting frames more salient through the selection, emphasis, and exclusion of information (see Entman, 1993). It is through these functions that news frames help establish meaning toward societal issues (Zaharopoulos, 2007). From a sport perspective, framing has been employed extensively to examine issues during the Olympic Games. This line of research has explored issues such as race, gender, and nationality (Angelini, MacArthur, & Billings, 2014; Billings, Angelini, MacArthur, Bissell, & Smith, 2014; Eagleman, Rodenberg, & Lee, 2014; Zaharopoulos, 2007) and framing regarding social or political issues within a country (Huang & Fahmy, 2013; Liang, 2010; van Luijk & Frisby, 2012). Beyond the Olmpic Games, framing also has been employed to examine issues such as race, nationality, and the personal scandals of professional athletes (Bishop, 2005; Eagle- man, 2011; Laucella, 2009, 2010). It is important to note that the previously mentioned studies employed framing in the context of traditional media outlets (television, newspapers, magazines, etc.) to examine this process from a top-down perspective. Recently, Nisbet (2010) argued that there is a need to study framing in digital media from a different perspective, one that marks the shift from previous studies that focused on the “transmission model of traditional news framing effects to a more interactive, social constructivist, and ‘bottom up’ model of framing” (p. 75). This shift to a bottom-up or emergent framing conceptualization is important to consider because it changes the focus of framing studies from traditional media and hierarchical gatekeepers to ordinary, everyday individuals who easily and regularly produce (online) media and who ultimately become “active contributors, creators, commentators, sorters, and archi- vers of digital news content” (Nisbet, 2010, p. 75). This line of research has revealed 656 Communication & Sport 7(5) that social media can serve as an outlet for coordinating social movements (Hamdy & Gomaa, 2012), framing content around political movements (Meraz & Papachar- issi, 2013), and framing content around political elections (Ampofo, Anstead, & O’Loughlin, 2011; Groskek & Al-Rawi, 2013; Hawthorne, Houston, & McKinney, 2013). Research has also suggested that content circulated on social media can not only follow and repeat official agenda items and media frames but also reciprocally enter the mainstream media agenda and lead framing of certain items and issues (Meraz, 2011; Ragas & Kiousis, 2010; Sayre, Bode, Shah, Wilcox, & Shah, 2010). Additionally, social network sites provide an important role in setting political agendas and advancing or reiterating certain frames, and a variety of nonelite actors can be pivotal in this process (Meraz & Papacharissi, 2013). The importance of the shift in the gatekeeping function of traditional media propelled researchers to inves- tigate bottom-up framing in other contexts such as sport. Bottom-Up Framing and Sport Within the realm of sport, bottom-up framing research has primarily focused on how everyday content contributors craft narratives and shape the conversation on social media sites. Specifically, this line of research has explored the social media dialogue surrounding championship events (i.e., the Stanley Cup), international sporting events (i.e., the Sochi Olympic Games), sport leagues (i.e., Legends Football League [LFL]), and isolated/dramatic instances with athletes (i.e., Tony Stewart, Kevin Ward, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos). In their examination of social media content during the Vancouver Riots (fol- lowing the 2011 Stanley Cup Championship), Burch, Frederick, and Pegoraro (2015) found that users employed Twitter to shape public opinion and reinforce or alter cultural perceptions. Additionally, users attempted to counter public percep- tions by disassociating themselves from the rioters and expressing embarrassment over the unfolding events. Another event that garnered significant social media attention was when race car driver Tony Stewart struck and killed fellow race car driver Kevin Ward Jr. (see Frederick, Stocz, & Pegoraro, 2016). Following the incident, a statement was posted to Stewart’s Facebook page. Individuals responded to this post (and the incident itself) by discussing who was at fault, debating whether it was an “accident,” showing support and disdain, displaying racing knowledge, and calling for an examination of evidence. Individuals took the opportunity to shape the narrative and debate the “facts” of what had taken place. Furthermore, they used Facebook as a digital soapbox to levy judgment and display self-appointed knowl- edge. Additionally, Frederick, Pegoraro, and Burch (2017) examined how the LFL used Facebook as a means of self-presentation and whether frames emerging from user comments aligned with these self-presentation efforts. The authors found that the league attempted to present itself as a legitimate entity and that users framed the league in a similar manner by discussing teams, games, and athletes. However, peripheral dialogue that sexualized the athletes did exist. Schmidt et al. 657 Bottom-up framing has recently been applied to the Olympic Games. Blaszka, Frederick, Newman, and Pegoraro (2016) explored whether individuals were dis- playing dissent via #Sochi2014 in response to the controversial 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. While they found that most of the content focused on topics related to the Games (i.e., medal counts and athlete performances), dissent existed as a peripheral theme. Within this peripheral theme, subthemes emerged such as Sochi Problems (i.e., unsuitable living conditions and stray dogs) and issues related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans (LGBT) rights and Russia’s antigay stance. To build upon this research, Frederick, Pegoraro, and Burch (2016) performed a com- parative analysis to determine how traditional media (i.e., newspapers) and social media (i.e., Twitter) framed the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Specifically, the authors examined whether top-down and/or bottom-up framing was present in cov- erage. The authors found three themes across the platforms including the Games (medals and athlete performance), the Setting (the state of accommodations in Sochi), and the Politics (Russian political policies and gay rights). Overall, Twitter content echoed newspaper content in terms of discussing political controversies. However, organic content pertaining to conditions and accommodations in Sochi emerged organically on Twitter. While these items were discussed on Twitter, they were not amplified by newspaper coverage, indicating perhaps a diluted power of hashtags due to over use and saturation. While not explicitly a bottom-up framing study, it is important to make note of the work focused on athletes by Billings, Moscowitz, Rae, and Brown-Devlin (2015). In the Billings et al. (2015) study, the authors performed a comparative analysis of newspaper coverage and Twitter content pertaining to Jason Collins becoming the first active National Basketball Association (NBA) player to come out as gay. In this instance, the authors found a divergence in content trends as newspapers and Twitter did not share similar themes. While newspapers framed this as a watershed moment, Twitter content focused primarily on ancillary items such as television appearances. This study, like many other bottom-up framing studies, demonstrated that everyday content contributions on social media often create organic content and diverge from traditional media in terms of how events are discussed. Nationalism, Patriotism, and Sport According to Kim and Billings (2017), nationalism is defined as an individual’s positive attitudes and commitment toward their country (Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989; Skitka, 2005). Nationalism should not be confused with the term patriotism, though they are often used synonymously. While both are consequences of national identity (Bar-Tal, 1997, Schatz & Staub, 1997), the two terms differ significantly in their views toward the nation. Nationalism supports blind obedience and idealized excessive valuation of one’s nation. Those strong in nationalism for their nation often believe their nation is superior to other nations and have an uncritical 658 Communication & Sport 7(5) acceptance of the national, state, and political authorities (Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989; Skitka, 2005). Patriotism supports critical analysis of one’s nation when justified in certain conditions, but ultimately, the individual has love of their country (Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989; Skitka, 2005). In other words, nationalism can be a synonym for blind patriotism (Adorno, Frenkel-Bruswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950; Blank & Schmidt, 2003; Mummendey, Klink, & Brown, 2001). Nationalism is extremely common in two specific sports: football (Butterworth, 2008, 2012; Butterworth & Moskal, 2009; Kusz, 2007) and soccer (Butterworth, 2007; Sack & Suster, 2000). These sports, and sport itself, result in higher levels of nationalism due to the ability for “spectators to collectively reaffirm their commit- ment to beliefs, values, and myths that underlie their cultural identity” (Sack & Suster, 2000, p. 306). America specifically noted a heightened sense of nationalism post-9/11 (Butterworth, 2008), as the nation had to respond to a moment of crisis about its future (Butterworth, 2007). This manifested itself in the NFL through the increasing presence of militarism and war. During World War II, the NFL made significant financial contributions and human contributions as players served in the military to help the war effort (MacCambridge, 2005). Since then, the NFL has become the most militaristic sport in America (Butterworth, 2012; Fischer, 2013). Evidence of this includes pregame rituals such as military flyover, frequent calls to support the troops, and productions of the reading of the Declaration of Indepen- dence dripping in militaristic and nationalistic tones before games, alongside the grand production of the national anthem (Butterworth, 2008). Unlike football, which is contained within the United States, U.S. Soccer has somewhat lagged behind in being a tool used for American nationalism (Markovits & Hellerman, 2001) and has not been used by the government as a mechanism for increasing nationalism or militarism. Multiple studies have examined nationalism and how it relates to sport (Billings, Brown, & Brown, 2013; Butterworth, 2012; Butterworth & Moskal, 2009; Devlin & Billings, 2016; Kusz, 2007; Sack & Suster, 2000). Researchers have shown that consumption of traditional media broadcasts can result in higher levels of national- ism for people watching a broadcast about their home nation, from the perspective of the home nation commentators (Billings et al., 2013). Further, highly identified fans of a team reported higher levels of nationalism than nonhighly identified fans during television coverage (Devlin & Billings, 2016). Thus, one can postulate that being exposed to frames of nationalism within sport leads to high levels of nationalism by the public, especially if they are highly identified sport fans. Taken to an online setting, nationalism can be impacted by online sports coverage when engaged with either the home media or hostile media (Kim & Billings, 2017). Billings, Burch, and Zimmerman (2015) noted the presence of nationalism on Twitter, in their examina- tion of the 2014 World Cup. Indeed, the social media comments lacked a “fervent nationalism” (p. 737) tone. The authors postulated that highly identified fans were more likely to post on social media and thus more comments would examine the game through an analytical eye. While Billings et al. investigated the presence of Schmidt et al. 659 nationalism on social media, their examination was not tied to the intersection of athlete activism, social media, and the public response. Jackson (2014) examined the media responses to Tommie Smith, John Carlos, and Muhammad Ali’s activism during the 1960s, via framing. After Smith and Carlos raised their fist to protest the treatment of Black lives in America, over 40% of articles claimed that the athletes’ “behavior reflected a lack of respect and appreciation for their country and that any political philosophy that supported them was similarly un-American (p. 75).” The media failed to report on Peter Norman, the White ally on the podium next to Carlos and Smith. Similar to Smith and Carlos, Ali was vilified after his announcement that he was joining the Nation of Islam and boycotting the Vietnam War. Ali was considered ungrateful and un-American and especially condemned for using boxing as a tool to promote a political ideology. Main stream media left out Ali’s postfight press conferences where Ali would provide reporters with a great deal of information about Islam and its benefits to America and the world (Jackson, 2014). Athlete Activism and Social Media The work of Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, Tommie Smith, Billie Jean King, and many other athlete activists of the 1960s and 1970s is well-documented (Agyemang, 2011; Agyemang, Singer, & DeLorme, 2010; Kaufman, 2008; Kaufman & Wolff, 2010; Schmittel & Sanderson, 2015). Athlete activists in the 1990s and 2000s fell silent as pressures of winning, backlash from fans, financial consequences, and other barriers discouraged athletes from participating in activism (Agyemang et al., 2010; Cunningham & Regan, 2012; Kaufman, 2008; Schmidt, Shreffler, Hambrick, & Gordon, 2018). Agyemang, Singer, and DeLorme (2010) even noted Black male college athletes in the early 2010s were cognizant of the deeds of John Carlos and Tommie Smith but are unwilling to engage in social justice or activism. However, today’s resurgence in athlete activism may be in large part due to the presence of social media (Schmittel & Sanderson, 2015). Schmittel and Sanderson (2015) noted the frequency of NFL players engaging in social commentary on Twitter after the George Zimmerman verdict. The authors suggested that social media might be a vehicle for Black and minority athletes to perform activism and social justice. Frederick, Sanderson, and Schlereth (2017) and Sanderson, Frederick, and Stocz (2016) shifted the focus from athlete activists’ use of social media to the conversation encompassing athlete activism on social media. In their examination of comments made to the University of Missouri’s official Facebook page follow- ing athlete protests in response to the University’s handling of racial injustices on campus, Frederick et al. (2017) found that individuals discussed how college athletes were manufacturing racism and that they should not engage in activism due to its incompatibility with sport. The authors went on to say that comments were suggesting that athletes should be grateful for their opportunity and not question their place within institutional hierarchies and structures. Sanderson 660 Communication & Sport 7(5) et al. (2016) examined the social media response to five Black male St. Louis Rams players’ holding up their hands in a “do not shoot” gesture during player introduc- tions in response to the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Specifi- cally, the fan driven “Boycott the St. Louis Rams” Facebook page and #BoycottRams hashtag on Twitter were examined. The results revealed the action by the Rams players threatened the group values of (a) sport should be absent of activism and (b) law enforcement should not be questioned. It was not until after those values were threatened that fans took to social media to express their dismay for the actions of the Rams players. In a similar vein, Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s activism may have threatened users’ values leading them to post on public social media spaces such as Facebook. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to deter- mine what frames were present in users’ posts on Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s public Facebook pages. Were the dominant media frames pertaining to nationalism pres- ent or were the athletes’ reasons for protest (e.g., racial injustices and inequality in society) present in the comments? Additionally, the researchers wanted to deter- mine whether there was a convergence or divergence in terms of user commentary between the two athletes. Method An inductive thematic analysis of the narratives around Kaepernick and Rapinoe was conducted on user comments made to the athletes’ official public (and verified) Facebook pages. Facebook was chosen as it is the social media platform with the largest number of active users compared to Twitter, Instagram, and SnapChat (Maina, 2016). Facebook user demographics also represent the widest range of demographics of any of the social media platforms (Krogstad, 2015). Additionally, Facebook does not limit the size (i.e., number of characters) of a post, thereby allowing users to freely express their views and opinions without constraint. This allows for rich and more nuanced content to emerge. Kaepernick and Rapinoe were specifically chosen as they were two of the first prominent athletes to kneel during the national anthem, they had different messages that were communicated through the same act of social justice, and they are from sports that contain some of the highest levels of nationalism (Butterworth, 2007, 2008, 2012; Butterworth & Mos- kal, 2009; Kusz, 2007; Sack & Suster, 2000). Data were collected from August 27, 2016, to October 20, 2016. The time frame was selected as it encompassed the day after Kaepernick’s first anthem protest when he explained the reasoning behind his actions (August 26) and 2 weeks after Megan Rapinoe posted her article explaining her protest via the Players’ Tribune on Face- book (October 6). The 2-week period after Rapinoe’s sharing of her article gave users significant time to comment on the event. During the time period, Kaepernick did not post on his Facebook wall (he was inactive on the account from mid-2014 until late-2016), while Rapinoe posted frequently about youth camps she hosted and her clothing line. Only one post from both athletes was dedicated to the protest. A Schmidt et al. 661 total of 85,649 user comments were collected from the Facebook pages of the athletes, with 27,510 user comments coming from Colin Kaepernick’s page and 56,402 user comments from Megan Rapinoe’s page. The comments were a combi- nation of user posts to the pages and replies to a post made by the athlete. The data sets were analyzed using the qualitative software Leximancer (version 4.5), which conducts thematic and semantic analysis on written words as well as visual text (Bal, Campbell, & Pitt, 2012). An advantage of the automated approach of Leximancer is that it generates a concept list (i.e., descriptors) that is statisti- cally reliable and reproducible, as it was generated from the input text itself, whereas manual lists require checks for coding reliability and validity (Angus, Rintel, & Wiles, 2013). Leximancer’s analysis begins with only a few seed words and then can go on to analyze vast sets of texts that contain a large number of concepts, making it an effective tool to analyze blogs, user comments, and social media posts (Bal et al., 2012). Therefore, it was deemed the proper data analysis tool for the current study. Leximancer has recently been utilized as an analytical tool for sport-specific social media research (see Billings, Burch, & Zimmerman, 2014; Blaszka, Frederick, Pegoraro, & Newman, 2016; Frederick, Pegoraro, & Burch, 2016; Frederick et al., 2016; Pegoraro, Burch, Frederick, & Vincent, 2015). Leximancer does not generate counts for its thematic outputs. Rather, it presents themes in terms of their relevance and connectivity within the larger data set. Themes at or above 50% connectivity (i.e., relative importance) were reported in the results. This was a more conservative approach compared to recent studies that reported themes at 25% or greater connectivity as relevant within the data set (see Blaszka et al., 2016). Beyond 50% connectivity, themes begin to become peripheral and are not particularly relevant. The researchers did not want to dilute the data with peripheral themes. Therefore, only highly relevant and connected themes were reported. While computational approaches have value in terms of their ability to analyze large data sets of text (Indulska, Hovorka, & Recker, 2012), human contributions are extremely important and a necessary step in the data analysis process (Neuendorf, 2002). The size of the current data set did not allow for traditional human coding of each data point. Therefore, Leximancer was utilized to conduct the initial thematic analysis of the data. It is important to note that Leximancer does not name themes based on context. Rather, the software names a theme based on its most prominent descriptor. However, all content within a Leximancer-generated theme has the same context (see Frederick et al., 2016). It is the responsibility of the researchers to dig deeper into the data to discover the nature of the dialogue within each theme and rename a theme to accurately reflect its nuance and context (Macnamara, 2005). After Leximancer determined the initial themes, the researchers went through each theme and extensively reviewed their content to understand the theme given the context of the protests. This entailed going through hundreds of the Facebook posts in each theme. The researchers collaborated to rename the themes based on their 662 Communication & Sport 7(5) understanding of the literature. Themes that did not contain elements of nationalism were named based on their appropriate context. Results Across both data sets, a total of seven major themes emerged: (a) American values, (b) racial discussion, (c) shunning, (d) masculinity, (e) representation, (f) athlete’s role, and (g) freedom. Each theme identified within the Leximancer analysis had 50% or greater connectivity (i.e., relative importance) indicating moderate to strong relevance within the data set. The resulting Leximancer theme maps (provided in Figures 1 and 2) are heat-mapped, meaning that hot colors (red and orange) denote the most important themes and cool colors (blue, green, and purple) denote less important (i.e., peripheral) themes. Peripheral themes were not reported in the results. Comments are provided verbatim. Kaepernick Four prominent themes emerged from Kaepernick’s data: (a) American values, (b) shunning, (c) racial discussion, and (d) masculinity. The Leximancer thematic map is provided in Figure 1. American values. One theme from Kaepernick’s data represented discussions and arguments centered on the values of Americans, a notion lending itself to strong sense of nationalism. A prominent discussion point among Facebook users was Kaepernick’s act being patriotic. On one hand, users believed Kaepernick was being anti-American by kneeling during the anthem. One user claimed, “If you are an AMERICAN Citizen you Pledge[sic] your allegiance to the American Flag and stand for the National Anthem.” This narrative emerged often as users claimed that Kaepernick was violating American values and being un-American. Similarly, the users commenting on Kaepernick’s Facebook page felt Kaeper- nick, by not standing for the national anthem, was threatening American values. Another example of this stated, “America has been so great to you and yet you refuse to stand up for the National Anthem. To disrespect the pledge of Allegieance[sic] is to disrespect all American’s and every armed service per- sonal from the beginning of time I bet your[sic] the type of pussy that will stand on the American flag to.” Conversely, many users believed Kaepernick was truly upholding American values by standing up for others through his actions (i.e., kneeling). One commenter posted, “Thank you for using your Constitu- tional right to stand up for those who are not all in the position to do so.” Similar posts noting Kaepernick’s right to stand or kneel were present as users proclaimed Kaepernick was upholding the values of American by not standing. For example, “He has the right to not stand for the pledge of allegiance.” The dichotomous views of users led to tensions and debate between those believing Schmidt et al. 663 Figure 1. Leximancer themes for Kaepernick. Kaepernick was threatening American and nationalistic values and those who believed he was upholding those values. Shunning. Building on the first theme of American values, the shunning theme emerged as users moved past whether Kaepernick violated American values and 664 Communication & Sport 7(5) Figure 2. Leximancer themes for Rapinoe. toward discussions surrounding consequences for violating nationalistic values. In other words, users were more concerned with what should happen to Kaepernick and athletes after they violated sacred nationalistic values. For instance, many comments indicated that users believed Kaepernick should leave the country: “Do us all a favor and get out of the country that has made you rich.” Multiple users wished for Kaepernick to leave the country because of his actions. It is evident that users believed the threatening or violation of American values was cause for isolation Schmidt et al. 665 or segregation. For instance, one user said “Time to move to Venezuela or some fine socialist pig sty of a country” and “Get the hell out of my country.” As mentioned before, the shunning theme was not focused on American values, but the conse- quences for violating those values. Many comments felt the appropriate conse- quence for Kaepernick was to leave the country because he had violated America’s national values. Racial discussion. A second theme from Kaepernick’s data focused on what Kaeper- nick was trying to highlight through his activism: racial inequality. The racial discussion centered on if there was a racial problem in America. Some users, on both sides, turned to unsubstantiated statistics to formulate their argument: “When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling; it is the Law of Probability” and “86% of white people are murdered by white people.” Some users even went as far as calling out Kaepernick directly by insulting his intelligence and questioning the history and current state of racism in America. For example: As a Marine, I say to Colon[sic], you and people like you are a cancer. Black people are their own worst enemy. Oppression is a myth propagated by people like you Colin, with IQ’s about one tick above an ice cube. There are no slaves anymore and when there were everyone forgets to mention all of the Black slave masters of their own people. Both sides, one believing there is a racial problem and one believing there is no racial problem, were represented within the comments. Some users were even using meta-comments to indicate Kaepernick’s stance was validated: “Look at all these people proving Kaepernick’s point and again all these people with the comments hiding behind fb[sic] show the fact that Colin is correct.” The focus shifted from the narrative outside the comments to inside the comments. Commenting on the state of the Facebook posts provided users with an opportunity to focus on the people and their behaviors within the comments, rather than the outside world. Overall, this theme emerged as a debate over the racial climate of America and if a racial problem does indeed exist. Masculinity. Another theme from Kaepernick’s data discussed notions of masculinity. Within this theme were discussions regarding what it means to be a man and the appropriate actions of a “real” man. This theme had little to do with nationalism but focused on other issues that were not directly part of Kaepernick’s activism. One user posted a quote by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.” Another user proclaimed, “God bless you young man, Real men see wrongdoing and speak against it, Fearful men look the other way.” While men can be taken in a general sense, the quotes directly perceived Kaepernick’s actions as demonstrating the traditional real man. By speaking out against the injustices in society (through kneeling), Kaepernick was proving his 666 Communication & Sport 7(5) masculinity, in a traditional sense. Conversely, some comments used the argument against Kaepernick. Such as, “Real men don’t do this!” and “Just wait until the real men in the NFL will be knocking the snot out of you on the field this season.” Additionally, comments attempted to tie race and masculinity together, something Kaepernick was directly bringing attention to during his activism. For example, “If Kaepernick & Reid and now Lane want to disrespect the American Flag and follow behind Black Lives Matters than they are poor excuses of men” and “Black men only know how to hate.” Once again, there were two sides to this theme. One saw Kaepernick’s actions as living up to the traditional stigma of masculinity (being a real man), while the others viewed him as less of a man for his actions. Rapinoe Rapinoe’s data were comprised of three major themes: (a) athlete’s role, (b) repre- sentation, and (c) freedom. The Leximancer thematic map is provided in Figure 2. Athlete’s role. The first theme in Rapinoe’s data is a narrative all too familiar within society: Athletes and political stances do not mix. One individual believed this by stating, “Personally I feel mixing politics with sports is just plain stupid.” This comment echoes many of the comments that athletes should just stick to sports and not engage with their surrounding society. For examples, “It’s hard to take these privileged (‘oppressed’) athletes seriously, Funny how overpaid athletes are now supposedly taking on the plight of the oppressed,” and “If an overpaid athlete bashes American in an empty stadium and no one sees it, did she really take a knee?” The aforementioned comments utilize the perceived high income of the athletes or per- ceived positions of privilege as reasons for why they should not engage with politics. Many more comments discussed the role of sport and athletics in society. One narrative recognized the ability of athletes to effectively communicate their mes- sage. For example, “And if it takes professional athletes for you all to see this then so be it.” The user proclaimed the message finally could be heard due to athletes taking a stance. Additionally, some noted the way the same message was delivered by athletes and nonathletes. “Funny how when a presidential candidate says America’s not great, ya’ll[sic] hoot and holler and cheer, but when an athlete does it, you lose your damn minds.” Most comments, however, took the opposing view that profes- sional athletes should not be taken seriously when engaging with societal/political issues. Representation. Another theme that emerged from Rapinoe’s data was her represen- tation of America, invoking a strong sense of nationalism. A profound narrative had many users commenting on her representing America as a member of the USWNT. As opposed to the American values theme found in comments pertaining to Kae- pernick, this theme focused on Rapinoe’s ability to represent America, not the specific values of America. For example, comments included: “that[sic] action is Schmidt et al. 667 unacceptable She[sic] is representing USA” and “You should NEVER be allowed to wear the colors of this country again.” The users believed Rapinoe should be respectful of the national anthem and the country because of her position on the USWNT. Conversely, few users claimed that she was a rightful representative by taking a knee, “It’s about pride in her country and a deep desire to serve and represent her country to the absolute best of her ability!” and “The act IS represent- ing your country.” These comments were making the case for her being one of the best people to protest, due to her position on the USWNT. Another discussion point was not about Rapinoe representing the United States but the United States as a representation of Rapinoe’s identity. Some individuals pointed out the United States and its mistreatment of gay and lesbian individuals with comments such as “A country where she wasn’t even able to marry until last year.” Many more comments were directed at the other side of the argument claiming, “No other country would let her be gay!” and “Gays get killed in other countries, I guess she doesn’t get it”. The narrative focused on the treatment of gay and lesbian individuals inside and outside of the United States, illustrating a deeply complex and often misinformed under- standing of persecution. Freedom. The final theme that emerged from Rapinoe’s data was freedom. While freedom for the users came in many different forms, all engaged a sense of nationalism in the comments. Some discussed freedom of speech and what that entails in America. As exemplified by these users, “It’s his/her freedom to choose, I am also glad they exercised their right as American citizens,” and “American freedom in action.” The narrative supported Rapinoe and reinforces the idea that American freedom allows for individuals to take a stand against social injustices and be critical of the nation. Some users used this opportunity to discuss free speech in the United States and what it entails. For instance, “‘Freedom of speech’ becomes ‘Controlled speech’ whenever you’re expected to agree with the masses!” and “However, what some people fail to remember is that just because you are free to express yourself doesn’t mean you are free from the consequences of that expression.” The conversation focused on free speech in America, if free speech was allowed and if there were consequences for free speech by someone who is employed. As more users commented, the conversation switched to where free speech is allowed: “Freedom of speech at work is laughable.” As a member of the USWNT, one can see how this conversation would funnel into the representation theme. Other discussions encompassed the military: “Lots of great Americans have died for the freedoms you enjoy” and “I am grateful to those who protect our freedoms.” Overall, the final theme in Rapinoe’s data encompassed a plethora of discussions surrounding the concept of freedom in the United States. Discussion The current study investigated the content of user posts on Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe’s public Facebook pages after the two athletes protested the national 668 Communication & Sport 7(5) anthem. Both athletes knelt during the national anthem of professional sporting events, and in Rapinoe’s case, during an event when she was representing America as a member of the USWNT. The athletes knelt to take a stand against oppression of marginalized populations in America. Kaepernick identifies as a Black, straight, male who played quarterback for the NFL team the San Francisco 49ers at the time of his protest. He protested against the treatment of Black lives in America. Rapinoe identifies as a White, lesbian, female who was a starting midfielder/forward for the Seattle Reign FC of the NWSL and the USWNT at the time of her protest. She knelt with Kaepernick in solidarity and to represent the oppression she faced as a lesbian in America. Both athletes, however, experienced backlash for reasons other than the purpose of their activism. Despite repeatedly claiming they were not protesting nationalistic ideals, critics of the protests often framed their protest as anti- American (Martin & McHendry, 2016). The purpose of the current study was to determine whether social media content reflected the common frames of nationalism through comments on the public Face- book pages of both athletes. Additionally, the researchers wanted to know whether user dialogue reflected Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s intended messages and whether there was convergence or divergence in terms of user commentary between the two athletes. Our analysis reveals the themes emerging from the data highlighted a strong nationalistic narrative, with some accompanying narratives addressing the issues Kaepernick and Rapinoe desired to highlight through their activism. Frames of American values, shunning, representation, and freedom were indicative of natio- nalistic tendencies. These frames discussed what constituted American values and the consequences for not conforming to those values. The other themes such as racial discussion, masculinity, and athlete’s role investigated issues outside of nationalism. The themes were more in line with the intent of Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s protests. From a bottom-up framing perspective, it is important to note that the users created the strong presence of nationalism, despite the efforts of the athletes to focus the conversation on marginalized populations in America. While traditional media has labeled athletes as un-American for protesting America’s treatment of margin- alized populations, like in the case of Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos, this study revealed that the public will do the same. It is obvious that, with social network sites and online media, users can create, contribute, and set political agendas or advance certain frames (Meraz & Papacharissi, 2013; Nisbet, 2010). Sport organizations have attempted, and largely been successful, at encouraging social media users to adopt specific frames (Frederick, Pegoraro, & Burch, 2017). This study indicates that this may not be true for athletes. The dominant frames in this study were about nationalism, patriotism, and militarism, not primarily the issues Kaepernick and Rapinoe actively sought to illuminate. Kaepernick and Rapi- noe repeatedly made statements explaining their reasoning for their protests, but users still grasped the nationalistic sentiment. In other words, social media provides users with a stage to frame these discussions within the lens of nationalism. By doing Schmidt et al. 669 this, users are primarily not willing to engage with the issues of marginalized populations that Kaepernick and Rapinoe sought to highlight. Focusing on the presence of nationalism, it was evident in the user comments that both Kaepernick and Rapinoe had violated the national values that some Americans hold when they sat or kneeled for the anthem. Given the post-9/11 climate where nationalism is at an all-time high in America (Butterworth, 2008; Butterworth & Moskal, 2009), this is not surprising. Individuals felt attacked by Kaepernick and Rapinoe’s activism; they felt it violated the beliefs, values, and myths of their cultural identity (Sack & Suster, 2000). A similar result materialized in Sanderson et al.’s (2016) study as users of the “Boycott the St. Louis Rams” Facebook page expressed sentiments indicating that the Rams’ players had threatened their group values. What is surprising is how prevalent themes pertaining to nationalism were in the context of this study. Given that nationalism is not a given for social media posts when users are provided the opportunity (Billings, Moscowitz, Rae, & Brown- Devlin, 2015), one may expect there to be strong narratives of nonnationalistic frames on the Facebook walls of the athletes. This study indicated a strong presence of blind obedience and idealized excessive valuation of American beliefs (Blank & Schmidt, 2003; Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989; Skitka, 2005). There were a small number of users defending and celebrating the athletes for being critical of America. This hints at a small presence of patriotism in the comments as users were not willing to blindly support the flag (Blank & Schmidt, 2003; Kosterman & Feshbach, 1989; Skitka, 2005). However, the overwhelming amount of nationalism present in the themes was far greater. The conversation Kaepernick and Rapinoe desired to initiate was mostly overshadowed by the fervent discussions of nationalism. The use of the two athletes did allow the study to compare and contrast the frames of the athletes. In comparing the two athletes, it was repeatedly stated that users attacked both athletes for violating American values. An interesting idea to unpack could be the athletes were both attacked for violating American value specifically because the topic is America and nationalism. Given the landscape of America post- 2016, Americans may have an increased sense of nationalism, as they did post-9/11 (Butterworth, 2008). Users are responding to this moment of crisis and attempting to rediscover its values. This may be the reason that users are seeking out these specific athletes’ pages and posting on their walls. In addition, it should be noted that the athletes were attacked because they were athletes. Repeatedly, comments focused on the athletes’ financial income and status as a celebrity. Kaufman (2008) noted that athlete activists were treated differently than other entertainer activists like musicians, actors, and writers. One possible explanation could be athletes infuse their activism into their sporting event for greater exposure (Kaufman & Wolff, 2010). When this occurs, sport fans escapism is threatened. This was the case in the 1960s when Ali, Smith, and Carlos engaged in activism and traditional media called the athletes ungrateful and un-American (Jackson, 2014) and remains true today through social media. Understanding why this is true for athletes, but not other activists, is an important endeavor. 670 Communication & Sport 7(5) In an examination of the athletes separately, Kaepernick received personal attacks on his identities, but Rapinoe did not. Themes of racial discussion and masculinity included degrading messages about the color of his skin and his sex. The racial messages confirm the belief among Black male athletes that race still matters in America (Agyemang et al., 2010) and that racially charged messages are common to Black male athlete activists (Frederick et al., 2017; Sanderson, Frederick, & Stocz, 2016), especially at times involving nationalism in America (Jackson, 2014). Conversely, messages directed at Rapinoe rarely mentioned sexual orientation and never mentioned race. Rapinoe’s data contained more discussions surrounding the role of athletes in the United States. Despite any oppression Rapinoe has faced for being lesbian, her activism in this context was placed within a different narrative of nation- alism. Understanding why Rapinoe was not attacked via her identity and why Kaepernick was attacked via his identity is an intriguing puzzle. Some considerations could be given to the audiences behind the posts. As noted, the NFL is more entrenched in militarism (Butterworth, 2012; Fischer, 2013) than U.S. Soccer (Markobits & Hellerman, 2001). The level of militarism involved in the televised production of each sport, who is watching the sports and commenting on the Facebook posts, or the state of race, gender, and sexual orientation in America, could be reasons for the differences in how the athletes were treated. Limitations and Future Research With any study, limitations are present. First, Colin Kaepernick’s Facebook page was inactive during the data collection period, which perhaps can account for Kae- pernick having roughly half as many user comments as Rapinoe. Individuals, how- ever, were not discouraged by his inactivity choosing to post their comments on his last post from 2014 (which had over 25,000 comments). Rapinoe posted multiple times throughout the data collection, and thus, the data were spread among com- ments on these posts. Since the time of this study, Kaepernick has resumed posting on Facebook. He currently posts about racial and gender oppression in America. Another limitation is the term “stand” could be taken literally or figuratively. Lit- erally, users stated that Kaepernick/Rapinoe should stand for the anthem and figura- tively, users claimed the athletes should stand for their rights. The researchers congregated and sifted through comments to discuss the themes at length to deter- mine the correct iteration of the word stand. Furthermore, only Facebook posts were analyzed and an examination of the dialogue on other social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram as well as comments on traditional media outlets online pages could be used to determine whether similar themes permeated user comments on these sites. Future research should investigate the impact of this user dialogue and reaction to athlete activism. The conversations included debates about race, gender, and Amer- ican values, but the study did not investigate the impact of these debates on the users who engaged in the dialogue or who was engaging in these discussions. Are the Schmidt et al. 671 discussions productive for users as they engage in conversation surrounding societal issues? Did those users supporting the athletes face any backlash from other com- mentators? Interviewing or surveying individuals regarding the impact of these conversations, along with understanding their motivations for posting certain con- tent and determining whether they suffered any consequences as a result of their participation would be a worthy avenue of investigation. Future research could also investigate how athlete activists use their social media platforms as part of their protest activities. Since late-2017, Kaepernick has posted numerous articles about past activists of the Civil Rights Movement, Kaepernick’s million-dollar pledge to empower oppressed communities, and Know Your Rights Camp (a free youth cam- paign funded by Kaepernick to raise awareness about interactions with law enforce- ment). Is Kaepernick attempting to start discussions between users and followers or is he using the social media platform as an education tool? Additionally, are the same types of themes present in the comments on these posts even though he is no longer employed by an NFL team and therefore no longer visibly protesting during games? Additionally, future research should determine how themes related to activism efforts change over time. Since 2014, athlete activism has witnessed multiple forms of athlete activism, including social media posts (Schmittel & Sanderson, 2015) and physical acts performed by athlete activists on the fields (Sanderson et al., 2016). How has the discourse and public perception changed over the past few years as athlete activism has become more prominent? The inclusion of theoretical founda- tions presented in Critical Race Theory in future research of the comments received by individual athletes engaged in activism would be an important addition to the body of research. The insights from such a study could provide invaluable insights into what Dr. Harry Edwards (2017) referred to as the fourth wave of Black activism in sport. Conclusion Since the activism efforts of Kaepernick and Rapinoe, both athletes have ceased kneeling for the anthem. Rapinoe was faced with a new policy from U.S. Soccer for her actions that prohibited her from kneeling during the anthem. Kaepernick, who has yet to sign with an NFL team, publicly stated he would stand for the anthem in future seasons. Both athletes are still outspoken about their activism. Rapinoe fights for inclusion and equality for LGBT athletes (and nonathletes) on multiple forums. Kaepernick, in late-2016, promised to pledge US$1 million to different organiza- tions and charities such as Grassroots Leadership, American Friends Service Com- mittee, and Helping Oppressed Mothers Endure. Despite being jobless, he continues to donate money, attend rallies, hand out suits, and keep the conversation about the oppression of Black lives in America (Hinog, 2017). Both athletes are active on their Facebook pages. Rapinoe continues to post about her clothing line and camps, while Kaepernick has started to use his Facebook to post about his Know Your 672 Communication & Sport 7(5) Rights Camp, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month. The discourse surrounding Rapinoe’s activism has ceased on her Facebook profile. Kaepernick’s profile, however, continues to be engulfed with user posts similar to those found in this study. Declaration of Conflicting Interests The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, author- ship, and/or publication of this article. Funding The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. References Adorno, T. W., Frenkely-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. 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