A tweet consisting of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and national anthem protest inventor Colin Kaepernick kneeling, while U.S. soldiers wade ashore at Normandy. Heated up the Internet over the Thanksgiving holiday, raising debate on both sides of the anthem protest issue.

Former Blaze personality and current Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren posted the image on Thanksgiving Day adding, “Food for thought.” The photo of Kaepernick carries a caption reading “Citizen of the Year:”

The caption alludes to GQ magazine’s choice of the former NFL player as its “Citizen of the Year” this year because of his central role in inventing the anti-American protests that have infected the NFL.

Kaepernick was declared the magazine’s “citizen of the year” despite the fact that he admits that he has never voted in an election and has said his anthem protest is a strike against a country he insists has “never been great.”

Last year Kaepernick confirmed that his protest was one against the country and everything for which it stands.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick said in an interview last August. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

Kaepernick also has a long history of attacking police. Without proof he has called them murderers, he ridiculed them by wearing “pig socks” which depicted cops as pigs, and he’s compared police to slave catchers.

Additionally, Kaepernick has been seen wearing a Fidel Castro shirt thereby celebrating a man who has murdered hundreds of thousands of political opponents over the last 50 years.

Lahren’s Twitter post brought out defenders of the meme as well as Kaepernick’s fans. Lahren’s supporters insisted that Kaepernick is in the wrong with his protests.

See your point, but I think the Picture is not political in nature, but is showing the absurdity of a man who doesn't recognize or value the sacrifice Our Father's Paid For the Price Of His Freedom. I think above all, Kaepernick is being disingenuous. — Proud American (@Vote_American) November 24, 2017

https://twitter.com/CoffeeInAustin/status/933821647945072641

Bottom line in my opinion is he chose the wrong platform to protest. I have 6 veterans in my family. He insulted all of them!!!!! I don’t care what or how much he has donated! He went from hero to zero in my eyes when he disrespected our country. — lee❌❌ (@LeeBrookesmiga) November 23, 2017

https://twitter.com/Sarah_White_77/status/933856700213465088

On the other hand, many criticized Lahren for her actions.

My family fought in this war, they took shrapnel in this war. What you advocate for is in direct contradiction to why they served. — Melissa M Melville (@nerdygrrl) November 23, 2017

You & your viewers & readers are either clueless or gullible or both. That being said, this idiocy plays to the conservative base who don't get the concept of the 1st amendment. At all. — I Voted Democratic on November 6 2018! (@jeanthorpe) November 23, 2017

While both you and Kaepernick were jobless…he donated a million dollars to various charities in the US. You sold horrible shit on Instagram. — Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) November 23, 2017

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.