Monday’s network morning shows all promoted former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick suing the NFL and claiming that all 32 League teams were in “collusion” against hiring him, despite a complete lack of evidence for his claims.

“On Offense. Colin Kaepernick files a grievance against the NFL, accusing owners of colluding to keep him out of the League for kneeling during the National Anthem. Does he have a case?” Matt Lauer proclaimed at the top of NBC’s Today. Spoiler alert: Kaepernick did not have much of a case.

In the report that followed minutes later, correspondent Miguel Almaguer announced:

It’s an issue that’s become a political lightning rod. NFL players protesting during the National Anthem becoming a divisive topic nationwide. Now the man who started the movement, quarterback Colin Kaepernick, is suing the NFL, saying he’s being forced out of the League.

Declaring that Kaepernick was “fighting to get back on the field,” Almaguer touted how the left-wing radical was “the first NFL player to take a knee during the National Anthem, protesting racial inequality and social injustice.”

“Kaepernick’s filing alleges all 32 team owners violated the League’s collective bargaining agreement, an effort to prevent Kaepernick from playing this season,” the reporter explained. Though Almaguer acknowledged that “legal experts say Kaepernick could have a hard time proving collusion.”

Wrapping up the segment, the journalist gushed: “Kaepernick taking a knee to stand up for what he believes in, and now, filing a grievance. The National Anthem protests Kaepernick started are still happening today, six players on his former team, the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee on Sunday before their game.”

Introducing the topic on ABC’s Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos hyped: “We move on now to Colin Kaepernick, who is taking action against the NFL, claiming team owners colluded to keep him from playing because he led the movement to kneel during the National Anthem as a protest against police violence.”

Painting Kaepernick as the victim, correspondent Ryan Smith described the athlete “claiming owners are making an example of him to other players of the repercussions of challenging the NFL” and “accusing the League and all 32 team owners of colluding to keep him off the field.”

“Kaepernick pointing to his refusal to stand during the National Anthem last season as a way to protest racial injustice as the reason for his unemployment,” Smith added, “A response he said at the time he anticipated.” A soundbite ran of Kaepernick asserting: “You’re going to have that backlash for trying to fight for people.”

Like his NBC colleague, Smith waited until the end of the report to point out that Kaepernick’s accusations were not backed up by evidence:

...it’s really tough....he’s got to prove that either two teams or a few teams or a team in the NFL got together and tried to keep him from employment. And he’s got to prove that by clear and convincing evidence. So he’s got to produce something actual, e-mails, something in writing at this point, and that’s very difficult to do, I think.

CBS This Morning did not devote a full report to Kaepernick’s legal action, but late in the 7 a.m. ET hour, co-host Norah O’Donnell did offer this uncritical news brief:

USA Today reports quarterback Colin Kaepernick filed a collusion grievance against NFL. The former San Francisco 49er claims he remains unsigned because team owners colluded after his protests during the National Anthem. The NFL Players Union supports the grievance. Last year Kaepernick sat and then knelt during the National Anthem to bring attention to racial inequality.

On the first weekday after President Trump’s criticism of the NFL protests created by Kaepernick, the networks provided an avalanche of negative coverage. NBC hailed a “firestorm of resistance” against the President, ABC suggested there were racial overtones to Trump remarks, and CBS praised Kaepernick as a “bridge builder.”

Monday’s biased coverage across all three networks was brought to viewers by Honda, Chevron, and Neutrogena.

Here are full transcripts of the October 16 NBC and ABC reports: