Saturday night, Colin Kaepernick and Jemele Hill spoke at the National Black Footwear Forum in Detroit, Michigan. Their conversation focused primarily on, you guessed it, racism, as well as Kaepernick’s life and upcoming memoir, “The Perilous Fight.”
OutKick reporters attended the event, which did not permit questions.
One topic, in particular, caught our attention. Hill told Kaepernick that she was struck by a story in his memoir about the time his mother wanted him to date Taylor Swift.
Hill and Kaepernick lamented that his mother wanted him to be with a girl like Swift, with the implication he wasn’t interested in white women.
Colin Kaepernick and Jemele Hill at Detroit event, (OutKick)
OutKick obtained a copy of Kaepernick’s new book, in which he tells that story about his mother and Swift:
“Now that I had my own car, it was time for me to embrace another teenage rite of passage: a girlfriend. I started seeing a very cute Black girl named Crystal. Right away, I noticed how different I felt with her than in my own home. I could talk to Crystal, really talk to her, without having to explain myself; it was a remarkable discovery, being understood up front and without question. When I visited her home, I was stunned by how warm and welcoming her family was. I immediately felt comfortable there,” he begins.
“I asked Crystal to the homecoming dance, a formal affair involving fancy gowns, tuxedoes, and corsages. We had a nice time at the dance. When I got the official portrait from that night, featuring me and Crystal posed up in that classic, airbrushed frame, my mother hid it away in the back of a drawer.”
“My mother convinced me to ask Lindsay, the daughter of one of her friends, to the next formal dance. Lindsay was white. When I brought that picture home, my mother promptly plastered it on the wall for all to see. In her mind, Crystal was just a phase. Lindsay was the kind of girl I should want.
“It was disappointing to me that my mother didn’t seem capable of seeing who I really was. Years later, when I was in the NFL, she told me that I should ask out Taylor Swift (long before Travis Kelce made his move) because we would be perfect together. No slight to Taylor, but she was not my type. Crystal was also an athlete, a basketball player, and track runner so it was hard for us to find time for each other during basketball season. I was always on my way to practice or a game.
Oh, the horror of a mother encouraging her professional athlete son to ask out one of the most famous women in America, who was around his age. A white girl, even.
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Colin Kaepernick speaks onstage during The Gordon Parks Foundation Awards Dinner and Auction 2026 at Cipriani 42nd Street on May 19, 2026, in New York City. (Getty Images for The Gordon Parks Foundation)
During multiple portions of the conversation Saturday night, Kaepernick spoke negatively about two white parents raising him.
He repeatedly claimed that they did not understand or support his “blackness.” He also said they did not support his national anthem protest when it began.
How dare two parents refuse to support their son’s decision to disrespect the American flag and encourage him to date Taylor Swift?
How Kaepernick ever made it to the NFL despite this type of parenting is apparently the story of a true underdog.
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Colin Kaepernick No. 7 of the San Francisco 49ers kneels for the national anthem before a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi’s Stadium on Oct. 23, 2016, in Santa Clara, Calif. (Getty Images)
Colin Kaepernick is still upset that his mom wanted him to date Taylor Swift, a white woman.
Of course, Hill did not challenge Kaepernick on any of these points. Rather, she opened the discussion by blaming injuries for Kaepernick’s poor play and calling on the Atlanta Falcons to consider signing him to play quarterback in 2026.
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Colin Kaepernick is still upset that his mom wanted him to date Taylor Swift, a white woman
Finally, say what you will about Travis Kelce, but Swift should be glad Kaepernick stopped taking dating advice from his white mother.
