Wednesday Time Magazine announced that the most controversial player in the NFL, Colin Kaepernick, will grace its cover for their October 3rd issue.

The San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback, just voted the “most disliked” player in the league in a poll, gained celebrity status by refusing to stand for his country’s national anthem, because he cannot “show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”

In what some consider a racism awareness movement, a gathering of athletes, including other NFL players, WNBA stars, U.S. national soccer team midfielder Megan Rapinoe, and almost the entire Mission High School varsity football team, join Kaepernick in protesting the pregame “Star Spangled Banner.”

Associate professor of English at Columbia University, John McWhorter writes in an article appearing in the October 3rd issue for Time that, “We must understand what Kaepernick is protesting.” He continued: “For one, the idea that to not stand while the anthem is played signals a lack of allegiance to one’s nation is simplistic to the point of stretching plausibility, seemingly designed more as a way to hate on someone than to grapple with the complexities of the real world.”

McWhorter goes on to say that Kaepernick’s failing to stand represents an act of “scolding” and “critique,” which are “fundamental facets of loving.”

Others don’t share the professor’s point of view. The 28-year-old University of Nevada alum, drafted by the 49ers in 2011, claimed earlier this week that he recently received death threats: “I’ve had a few come my way, but not too concerned about it. To me, if something like that were to happen, you’ve proved my point. It will be loud and clear for everyone why it happened, and that would move this movement forward at a greater speed than what it is even now.”