The U.S. Navy SEALs launched a probe after footage of military K-9 dogs attacking a man in a Colin Kaepernick jersey during a demonstration went viral.
The demonstration occurred during a fundraiser at the Navy SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, last year. The videos were posted on Instagram in January 2019, however, the footage didn’t attract widespread attention until director Billy Corben posted two clips on his Twitter page, reported Buzzfeed News.
The first video showed four dogs attacking a live target wearing a padded suit and a Kaepernick San Francisco 49ers jersey. Kaepernick was a quarterback for the 49ers for six seasons before he began to take a knee during the national anthem to protest police violence against Black people. He has been a free agent since the end of the 2016 season.
In a second clip, the target says, “Oh man, I will stand,” which draws laughter from the crowd watching the demonstration. The videos were viewed more than 5.2 million times on Twitter.
“This is why people are taking the knee blatant racism of the current racists and their forefathers. White people should be embarrassed about the savagery and viciousness they unleashed on black people for centuries,” wrote one viewer.
“So, no one attending this event saw anything wrong with this demonstration sufficiently enough to speak out or to stop the exhibition? This spectacle dishonors the uniform, insults the flag, and shames the country,” another person wrote under Corben’s post. “This is why he kneels.”
“Let me get this straight, out of all the evil people in the world, these geniuses chose Colin Kaepernick as an example?” wrote another person. “They could’ve picked Hitler, any serial killer, Kim Jong-un, Jeffrey Epstein, Idi Amin, Putin, etc. Get my drift? If not so sad!”
On Sunday, the U.S. Navy Seals announced it would investigate the incident.
“We became aware today of a video of a Navy SEAL Museum event posted last year with a military working dog demonstration. In the demonstration, the target is wearing a Colin Kaepernick jersey. The inherent message of this video is completely inconsistent with the values and ethos of Naval Special Warfare and the U.S. Navy,” a Navy statement said.
“We are investigating the matter fully, and initial indications are that there were no active duty Navy personnel or equipment involved with this independent organization’s event.”
