Years after Michael Vick publicly mocked Colin Kaepernick’s afro, he finally came face-to-face with Kaepernick’s partner, Nessa Diab. While the former quarterback has apologized for his insensitive comments since then, Diab had a message ready for him.

“I wanted to say thank you to you because I remember years ago a time that you clarified some statement about my husband, Colin Kaepernick,” she said on NESSA ON AIR. “You clarified it like, ‘Hey, I was just speaking from my experience, and I’m not saying that he’s not on a team because of his hair.’”

“It meant so much because Colin loves you and respects you,” she went on to say. “So, initially, we were like, yeah, wow. But you clarified it. You could have dismissed him like so many other people, but you didn’t. And I appreciate you for that.”

When Michael Vick appeared on her show, Diab recounted a past incident and thanked the former QB for his subsequent clarification. In a 2017 interview, Vick blamed Kaepernick’s struggles to sign with an NFL team on his fate and hair.

“First thing we’ve got to get Colin to do is cut his hair,” he said on FOX Sports’s Speak For Yourself. 

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While responding to Nessa this week, the Atlanta Falcons icon gave more context to his comments. The player revealed he had just joined television and was casually joking during a segment. He referenced Kaepernick’s clean-cut look because he was used to seeing that version before the former grew out his afro. It came at a time when Kaepernick was a free agent and in the middle of controversy, and since then, Vick has admitted his ignorance and has been grateful that both of them could mend fences.

He also thanked Kaepernick for being part of Evolution of the Black Quarterback (2024), describing it as “amazing and cool.” For the record, Vick’s wife, Kijafa Vick, produced that show. As Nessa mentioned, Vick had clarified his stance soon after he threw shade at Kaepernick’s career.

Speaking on the Dan Patrick Show in 2017, the ex-signal caller apologized for tying Kaepernick’s struggles to his appearance or play rather than his national anthem protest. 

“I only want to help Colin Kaepernick,” he added. “I’m not a general manager, I’m not the guy who makes the decisions on getting him signed, and I’m truly sorry for what I said. I think I should have used a better choice of words.”

While the two have since moved past the 2017 controversy, Kaepernick’s activism remains the central reason his NFL career stalled.

Colin Kaepernick’s NFL activism that changed everything

Since joining the league in 2011, Colin Kaepernick emerged as a rising star after back-to-back 3,000-yard passing seasons as part of his dual-threat peak. The San Francisco 49ers‘ QB led his team to an impressive 2012 season. While he came up short by a few plays and couldn’t win Super Bowl XLVII, his performance earned him praise across the league.

While many hoped he would be around for the long haul, his career took a different direction in 2016. Before games, Kaepernick began kneeling on one knee during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality. It was shortly after the police killed two unarmed African-American men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile.

“To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way,” Kaepernick told The Guardian in 2016. “There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

His protest drew powerful reactions from teammates, including Eric Reid. Additionally, it sparked a wider movement across the NFL and even into other sports, while many labeled it unpatriotic. Many critics and supporters argued he was effectively blackballed by NFL teams.

In 2018, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced a new policy prohibiting players from protesting on the field during the national anthem. Instead, he allowed them to remain in the locker room if they chose. In his message, he made it clear that people must act respectfully towards the national anthem.

“We want people to stand – that’s all personnel – and make sure they treat this moment in a respectful fashion,” Goodell said. “That’s something we think we owe. But we were also very sensitive to give players choices.”

That same year, Colin Kaepernick filed a grievance against the league, accusing owners of conspiring not to sign him. While the case settled out of court the following year, Kaepernick never played again. While Colin keeps his activism alive, his story remains one of the most controversial chapters in the league’s history.