An MSNBC panel on Monday slammed NFL players who continued to play after committing crimes such as drunk driving, implicating newly minted CNN contributor Donte Stallworth.
The panel on "Deadline: White House" was lambasting the NFL for the fact that no team has signed Colin Kaepernick, and they described cases where other football players were signed after actions such as drunk driving, of which Stallworth was guilty.
Stallworth went to prison for 30 days as part of a plea deal on his DUI manslaughter conviction in 2012 and later returned to the NFL, and last week he officially joined MSNBC's rival network CNN.
The panelists listed various instances of player misconduct embarrassing to the NFL in order to question the league's values. Sportswriter Mike Lupica finished that conversation by saying the NFL even allowed drunk drivers to play.
"There have been players who got behind the wheels of cars drunk and killed people and were able to get a job in the National Football League," Mike Lupica said.
The panel strongly disapproved of the NFL's willingness to allow these players to play without offering a similar chance to Kaepernick.
"We don't need the NFL lecturing us on anything, given that history that you just gave about players who still played," Megan Murphy said about Lupica's litany of offending players.
Host Nicolle Wallace and Jason Johnson both replied by saying, "Exactly."
In addition to his DUI manslaughter conviction, Stallworth has given credence to 9/11 conspiracy theories. On Monday he said players kneeling for the national anthem are protesting police brutality as well as the "gender pay gap."