ESPN commentator goes scorched earth on 'flaming hypocrite' Colin Kaepernick for not voting

San Fransisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick became a household name across America for his controversial national anthem protests to bring attention to the "oppression" that exists in the U.S., but now he's drawing quite a bit of backlash for another decision — he made the choice not to vote.

And ESPN anchor Stephen A. Smith is really not happy about it.

"As far as I'm concerned, Colin Kaepernick is absolutely irrelevant," Smith charged Wednesday. "I don’t want to see him again. I don’t want to hear from him again. I don’t wanna hear a damn word about anything he has to say about our nation — the issues that we have, racial injustices, needing change, et cetera, et cetera. He comes across as a flaming hypocrite."

It is not a surprise Kaepernick sat this election out, given he called both President-elect Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton "proven liars" who were "trying to debate who's less racist" during the campaign season. And defending his decision not to vote, the NFL star said Wednesday it "didn't really matter" who won the presidency because "the system still remains intact that oppresses people of color."

But that didn't stop Smith from calling the choice "a damn shame," even calling all of Kaepernick's protesting "a waste of time" at this point:

After all this noise that you made, even though you didn’t intend to do so by offending our military servicemen and women — and pointing out about how you wanted to bring attention to racial injustices and beyond in this country — to turn around and not to even take your behind to the polls to vote for a particular candidate. It is shameful! Absolutely shameful!

Him of all people, because of the position he took, because of the attention he brought to the issues, the fact that you don’t even have the decency to go to the polls and activate yourself in this election, as our president said, is a damn shame.

I don’t want to hear another word from Colin Kaepernick! It’s a waste of time.

And at the end of his scorched-earth rant, Smith demanded all networks block Kaepernick from getting any airtime unless he's "trying to throw another damn incomplete pass."

"Take the camera away from him," Smith said. "It means nothing."

Watch the rant below:

(H/T: TheIJR)