Navy SEALS Cut Ties With Museum After Backlash Over Viral Colin Kaepernick Dog Demonstration Video
“Each and every one of us serves to protect our fellow Americans – ALL Americans.”
The Navy SEALs don’t want to be part of anyone’s political agenda. That’s one takeaway from the elite special forces organization’s decision to sever ties with the SEAL Museum after a military K-9 demo video featuring dogs attacking an image of Colin Kaepernick went viral.
Documentary director Billy Corben first tweeted the videos. Watch it below.
In another video, after “Navy SEALs and Navy SEAL dogs take down Colin Kaepernick for not standing during National Anthem,” he moans something like, "Oh man, I will stand” #BecauseFlorida https://t.co/uZ3ervZguB pic.twitter.com/6vi1uCGIt5
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) August 2, 2020
The videos were made in 2019 at the SEAL Museum in Ft Pierce, Florida. They feature five dogs attacking a “stand-in” for controversial ex-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. Corben details what we see, tweeting “‘Navy SEALs and Navy SEAL dogs take down Colin Kaepernick for not standing during National Anthem,’ he moans something like, “Oh man, I will stand…'”
The SEALs wanted no part of this politically-loaded display, clearly intended as a nod to Kaepernick’s pre-anthem kneeling demonstrations against police violence directed at young black men. The Associated Press managed to get an email from Navy SEALs commander, Rear Admiral Collin Green. Green stated they were cutting ties with National Navy SEAL Museum—which is a nonprofit organization and not under military control.
“Each and every one of us serves to protect our fellow Americans – ALL Americans. Even the perception that our commitment to serving the men and women of this nation is applied unevenly is destructive,” Rear Admiral Collin Green, who heads the Naval Special Warfare Command, said in an email to his forces on Monday evening.
He added: “We will revisit our relationship with the Museum when I am convinced that they have made the necessary changes to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again.”
The AP reports Green explained that even though the museum isn’t under Navy jurisdiction and “the participants were contracted employees from outside the DoD,” the relevant fact is his unit has “been inextricably linked to this organization that represents our history.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Navy SEALs Museum had yet to respond to the controversy. It would be kind of hard to do so, given that Green was crystal clear in his email, also writing that the SEALs “own” their “relationship with the American people and we must honor it.” He added that the organization owns its relationship to its “fellow teammates” as well, and that they “will all receive the dignity and respect they deserve.”
So far, Kaepernick has remained silent on the issue, but we’ll update this post if he weighs in anytime soon.
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