Marshawn Lynch returned to his favorite comedy stomping grounds and straight bull-rushed his Conan segments. O'Brien asked for Lynch's thoughts on Colin Kaepernick's protest, which it should be noted hasn't gone away quietly. It's growing every week. (To wit, here's a great piece by Ben Natan of Bleeding Green Nation on the Eagles going fists-up before MNF, declaring "Philadelphia is a city of protest. Protest is Patriotism.") Marshawn starts by telling Conan he would "rather see [Kap] take a knee, than stand up, put his hands up, and get murdered," and concludes with "if you're not really racist, then you won't see what he's doing as a threat to America, but just addressing a problem that we have."The second part of what Lynch had to say is really fucking astute. Coming on the heels of the killing of unarmed Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, he calls into question all of the public voices — Cory Booker and Tim Tebow being the latest — claiming they support Kap's right to protest, but want him to go about it in "the right way." Nonviolent protests call attention to a cause. The bigger the platform, the louder the message, which is the whole point of dropping to a knee or channeling John Carlos and Tommie Smith during the national anthem in the first place. Plenty of smart people have weighed in on why Kaepernick isn't dishonoring the flag, including veterans who've actually served the country, but Lynch boils it down to its basic essence. It's simply disingenuous to claim support for the ongoing protests while calling for them to take place in the shadows. Colin Kaepernick wanted to strike a nerve, and he has. Lynch is right. If you're not a racist, then there's no reason to be threatened by athletes taking a stand for social justice. Stop parsing out the methodology and pretending otherwise. Hell, even Captain Shield, Roger Goodell seems to get it.It wasn't all serious business for beloved comedy duo Beast Mode and Big Red, though. Marshawn, a known candy lover who made Skittles a fun sideline treat rather than an ugly white supremacist Nazi meme, was back on the scene of some of his funniest bits to promote his new line of Scrumdiddlyumptious bars. He and Conan donned Willy Wonka hats — R.I.P. you nutty confectionary maven you — and Lynch gave one lucky fan a golden ticket, good for a personal tour of the Seattle factory making his Beast Mode bars. Available in such flavors as S'Mores, P-Nut Butter, and Mint Kookie, all sales will include a donation to Lynch's Fam 1st Family Foundation. The winner didn't seem as fired up as Charlie and Grandpa Joe, but maybe he was just too overwhelmed at the thought of spending the afternoon snacking on sweets with Marshawn Lynch.You want to change the world? There's nothing to it. But Beast Mode knows it takes a lot more than pure imagination.
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