On Oct. 25, 2023, the Latherland.com website published an article positing that the white adoptive parents of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick had "come clean" about him and said "he's not Black and he knows it."
Kaepernick’s Adopted Parents Come Clean: “He’s Not Really Black…And He Knows It”
Colin Kaepernick’s adoptive parents, Brad and Didid Kaepernick, say they’re not going to hide the truth from the public any longer. According to the couple, who took Colin in at the tender age of just three, he’s as white as they are.
“Colin doesn’t have a drop of black in him,” said Didi, “he was always trying to be one of them. We really didn’t know why. But it didn’t matter. Kids play. As he got older, we just kind of…let it happen. He spent a lot of time tanning and told everyone he met at school that his biological mother was black.”
We found numerous Facebook posts with users sharing the story, as well as over 1,200 comments, some that featured remarks from users who appeared to believe the story to be real.
However, this item about Kaepernick, his adoptive parents and race was not a factual recounting of real-life events.
Latherland.com is a website under the umbrella of America's Last Line of Defense, a network of content that's described on the website as containing "parody, satire, and tomfoolery."
Any users who continued to read the article to the end would have found several hints that the story was satirical in nature. One paragraph in the article in particular provided a very big hint that said the story was "likely fabricated."
Kaepernick was born to a white mother and a Black father. He was adopted by Teresa and Rick Kaepernick, who are both white.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.