Colin Kaepernick was greeted with a chorus of boos Sunday when he took the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
It wasn’t just because he leading the San Francisco 49ers against the home-standing the Miami Dolphins.
Miami is home to a large community of Cuban exiles and they are outraged by Kaepernick’s support of the man they consider a brutal oppressor, the now-deceased Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Kaepernick is used to being booed. He’s been raising a streak of controversies ever since his August decision to sit in protest during the national anthem before an NFL preseason game.
After that game, he showed up at a news conference wearing a T-shirt depicting a meeting between Castro, who was alive then, and the late black rights activist Malcolm X.
During an interview with Miami reporters on Wednesday, Kaepernick defended his choice to wear the T-shirt, according to Miami Herald columnist Armando Salguero’s personal account.
Over a teleconference call, Kaepernick reportedly praised Castro for investing in Cuba’s education system, as opposed to the American investment in the prison system, according to Salguero.
Kaepernick got a lot of criticism earlier this month. He didn’t vote in the recent election, saying it would be “hypocritical” of him to cast a ballot.
The Miami fans didn’t distract Kaepernick too much. He threw a touchdown pass in the first quarter.
Castro died Friday at 90.