A Twitter exchange between former Arizona State Sun Devils quarterback Rudy Carpenter and longtime NFL reporter Michael Silver regarding former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick ended in Carpenter being insulted and apparently blocked by Silver on Sunday night.
Earlier on Sunday, Silver, who has worked for NFL Media since 2013 and previously wrote for Sports Illustrated and Yahoo Sports, questioned via Twitter why the Jacksonville Jaguars, who may be in need of an upgrade at quarterback, haven't explored signing Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers QB was the first of several NFL players to decline to stand during the national anthem throughout the 2016 season. Kaepernick said he was protesting unequal treatment of minorities by police in the United States.
Many believe Kaepernick, who opted out of his contract after last season, is yet to be signed by another NFL team due to his anthem protest and outspoken beliefs on a number of social issues, as well as racial discrimination against Kaepernick himself.
Carpenter responded by asking whether Silver believes Jaguars owner Shad Khan is discriminating against Kaepernick due to those reasons. Carpenter noted Khan is the NFL's only Muslim owner and donated to Donald Trump's inauguration committee. Kaepernick has been critical of Trump's travel ban of predominantly Muslim nations and said false reports that he converted to Islam were driven by Islamophobia.
Carpenter then questioned whether Silver's tweets about Kaepernick were driven by an ideological agenda. "If it was facts and not propaganda you would have mentioned other Free Agent QBs as well as Kaep. Nowadays news comes with an agenda!" Carpenter tweeted.
In response, Silver called Carpenter a "sad, little, irrelevant afterthought" and then proceeded to block the former Sun Devils QB.
"I blocked (Carpenter) because he questioned my journalistic integrity, claiming my factual reporting was 'fake,'" Silver told ABC15. "I vaguely remember watching him play in college; beyond that I have no reason to view him as relevant as it pertains to this discussion.
"I spent the weekend in Jacksonville. As always, I stand by my reporting. I believe my many tweets on the subject speak for themselves."
Carpenter played quarterback at Arizona State from 2005-08 and had NFL stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is No. 2 all-time at ASU in passing yards and passing touchdowns, trailing only his predecessor Andrew Walter in both categories.
"In today's world, people can't have a normal discourse without blocking or shutting people down. Journalism is not real journalism anymore and it's causing a serious divide," Carpenter told ABC15 after his Twitter exchange with Silver on Sunday night.
"Clearly everyone knows if you follow (Silver's thread) on that issue and if you read the rest of his Twitter page, it's easy to see that he clearly believes this is a race issue, and then when he got called out on it, he insulted me and ran away."
