Tucker Carlson warns that American society 'will fall apart' because Nike is supporting Colin Kaepernick

Screenshot/Fox News

Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson speaks on Fox & Friends on Tuesday morning.

• Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued on Tuesday that Nike's recent decision to make former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of the sports apparel company's latest campaign will ultimately lead to the destruction of American society. 
• Carlson accused the football player and Nike executives of being motivated by a desire to "destroy our society" in order to "get rich." 
• "What happens over time if your ruling class decides to attack the very system that made their lives possible - everything falls apart," Carlson said. 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson argued on Tuesday that Nike's recent decision to make former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick the face of the sports apparel company's "Just Do It" campaign is an attack on the US and will ultimately lead to the destruction of American society.

Kaepernick was one of the first athletes to kneel during the national anthem during the summer of 2016 to protest racial and social injustice, and as more players followed in his footsteps, he and others have been criticized by many on the right who have called for protesting players to be fired.

Carlson said he would give Kaepernick "a pass," calling him "a hapless kid," and instead blamed the "sinister" Nike executives "profiting from him and his attacks on the United States." 

Like several other Fox personalities, including "Fox and Friends'" Pete Hegseth, Carlson suggested that there's no need for Kaepernick to raise awareness about racial injustice because "the historical problems with [racial discrimination]" are "obvious to every American," and Carlson dismissed Kaepernick's motivation for protesting as "not even that interesting." 

He added that if Kaepernick's complaints were "specific" - addressing a politician or a policy - they could be addressed, but because they are directed at police misconduct, they are an "attack on the country." 

"Sitting during the national anthem is a way of making a broad-based, generalized, and therefore impossible to rebut attack against the country," Carlson said, adding that people like Kaepernick and Nike executives "hate and resent the very system that made their prosperity, their success, possible." 

Carlson, who has repeatedly been accused of promoting white supremacist talking points on his nightly opinion show, went on to say that when powerful Americans, who he called "the ruling class," criticize American society, it undermines - and ultimately destroys - the fabric of that society.

"We should be really worried about that, when the best-educated, smartest, richest people in our society decide that destroying our society is the goal and the way to get rich," he said. "What happens over time if your ruling class decides to attack the very system that made their lives possible - everything falls apart."

Kaepernick negotiated a new multiyear deal with Nike now that he's out of the NFL, which will feature him in billboards, television commercials, and a new apparel line. Some proceeds will go to his Know Your Rights education camp.

Nike's ad immediately sparked boycott threats online and a wave of criticism from conservatives. 

A few people even posted photos of themselves destroying Nike shoes and socks. The destruction inspired mockery on the left, with some noting that homeless veterans' groups could use the donations of unwanted Nike products.

High-profile figures in sports and politics have praised Nike's move. Tennis star Serena Williams, also part of the "Just Do It" campaign, said Monday that she was "especially proud to be a part of the Nike family today."