Jay-Z’s Yankee Stadium jab at Colin Kaepernick relied on a claim that sources familiar with the former quarterback’s NFL settlement say is false.
During a freestyle aimed at his critics, Jay-Z claimed that Kaepernick signed a non-disparagement agreement after settling his collusion case against the league in 2019.
“Buddy took a check, I ain’t even mad at him,” the rapper said. “But along with that check you have to sign a non-disparagement. I’m the one they can’t control.”
Sources told TMZ that Kaepernick never accepted any restrictions that prevented him from speaking negatively about the NFL.
His public activity after the settlement also appears to contradict Jay-Z’s lyric. In a November 2020 social media post, Kaepernick wrote that he had faced “1,363 days of being denied employment.”
Pharrell says that JAŸ-Z is “ready for war”
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) July 13, 2026
“They poked the bear and then the bear cut his hair and now he got on his helmet […] I hope you kill all them n*****, y’all know what i’m talking about.”pic.twitter.com/yPPBEm12Fq
“As one source put it, ‘Colin couldn’t post about how many days it’s been since a team hired him,’” TMZ reported, if he had agreed not to criticize the league.
Hay-Z once supported the former San Francisco 49ers star’s protest against racial injustice, wearing his jersey on Saturday Night Live in 2017 and later calling him an “iconic figure.”
That support was called into question after Roc Nation began working with the NFL on entertainment programming. Kaepernick’s partner, Nessa Diab, condemned the partnership in 2019, writing that it was “disgusting and disappointing” to see Jay-Z work with the league. She also accused him of helping the NFL “bury” the athlete he had previously praised.