Nike is pulling sneakers featuring an early American flag after former NFL football player Colin Kaepernick told the company it shouldn't sell a shoe that he and others consider offensive, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday evening, citing people familiar with the matter.

Nike shares were falling less than 1% in premarket trading Tuesday following the news. Shares had closed Monday up nearly 2% and have rallied 15% this year, bringing the retailer's market cap to about $134.2 billion.

Kaepernick reportedly contacted Nike officials saying he and others felt the "Betsy Ross" flag — featuring 13 stars in a circle — featured on the shoes was linked to a period of slavery. The Betsy Ross flag is one type that was flown during the American Revolution. And the shoes were set to be released in celebration of the July Fourth holiday.

But the flag's design, which was created back in the 1770s to represent the original 13 colonies, has since been associated with white supremacy.

In 2016, for example, the superintendent of a school district in Michigan apologized after students at a predominantly white high school waved the Betsy Ross flag during a football game. At the time, a local chapter of the NAACP said the Betsy Ross flag was being appropriated by some extremist groups opposed to diversity in the U.S.

"Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured an old version of the American flag," Nike said in a statement to CNBC.