49ers coach didn’t rebuff Kaepernick’s request to return (2024)

It’s been seven years since quarterback Colin Kaepernick played for the former San Francisco 49ers — or any NFL team. But misinformation about the football player-turned-civil rights activist continues to spread on social media with the NFL’s regular 2024 season looming Sept. 5.

"Colin Kaepernick 'SCREAMS' as Coach Kyle Shanahan denies his return request: 'The kneeling symbol has no chance of coming back,’" an Aug. 23 Facebook post said.

The post shared an image of Shanahan at a July 29 press conference after a 49ers training camp practice in Santa Clara, California. The words "no more chances for someone who disrespects America" and "full story in comment" appeared over the image.

But the supposed "full story" that the post linked to in its comments section makes no mention of Kaepernick or Shanahan, the 49ers’ head coach.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

Representatives for the 49ers didn’t immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post, but Calder Hynes, a spokesperson for Kaepernick, said the claim is false.

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Instagram posts

stated on July 29, 2024 in a post

Video shows “thousands of Christians in France gathered to pray after Olympics opening mocked Jesus Christ.”

"There is no truth to the rumor," Hynes said.

We also found no evidence that Shanahan rebuffed a request from a screaming Kaepernick to rejoin the team or said that "the kneeling symbol has no chance of coming back."

Searching for that quote turned up only a few other social media posts.

Kaepernick, who led the 49ers to the Super Bowl XLVII in 2013, has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he began protesting police violence against Black Americans by sitting or kneeling during the pregame national anthem. In 2019, he and the NFL settled a grievance alleging that the league and team owners colluded to keep him out of football.

Brock Purdy is poised to start as quarterback for the 49ers in the 2024 season, backed up by Joshua Dobbs and Brandon Allen.

We rate this post False.

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  Facebook posts

  stated on August 23, 2024 in a Facebook post:

  “Colin Kaepernick 'screams' as Coach Kyle Shanahan denies his return request: 'The kneeling symbol has no chance of coming back.’”

  

  

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  Facebook posts

  stated on August 21, 2024 in a Facebook post:

  Beyoncé and Taylor Swift announced a “big endorsem*nt concert” and said, “No more silence, before it’s too late, our voice must be heard now!”

  

  

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  Viral image

  stated on August 22, 2024 in a Facebook post:

  “Breaking: WNBA referees disqualify players under league’s new ‘no anthem kneeling’ rule.”

  

  

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  Bob Casey

  stated on August 22, 2024 in a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention:

  “Prices are up because these corporations are scheming to drive them up.”

  

  

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  Threads posts

  stated on August 22, 2024 in Threads posts:

  Gov. Tim Walz insulted Ann Coulter’s romantic history after she called his son “weird.”

  

  

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  Instagram posts

  stated on August 25, 2024 in an Instagram post:

  Video shows helicopter “dropping millions” of mosquitoes in Massachusetts towns hit by eastern equine encephalitis virus.

  

  

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  Donald Trump

  stated on August 23, 2024 in a speech in Las Vegas:

  “Kamala cast the tie breaking vote to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to go after your tip income.”

  

  

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  J.D. Vance

  stated on August 7, 2024 in a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin:

  Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a law that would “take children away from their parents if the parents don’t want to consent to sex changes.”

  

  

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  Threads posts

  stated on August 25, 2024 in Threads post:

  Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Kamala Harris used to be a man named Kamal Aroush.

  

  

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  Jeffrey Barke

  stated on August 23, 2024 in an Instagram post:

  Food and Drug Administration approval for updated COVID-19 vaccines requires a public health emergency declaration.