Baltimore Ravens legend Ray Lewis added a new twist to the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick drama Tuesday night by noting a girlfriend’s “racist” tweet, which lost him a job.

Showtime’s season premier of “Inside the NFL” included coverage of Mr. Kaepernick’s failure to sign with a team since opting out of his contract with the San Francisco 49ers in March. Mr. Lewis said that Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti was open to hiring the controversial athlete — he started the league’s national anthem protests in 2016 — until a “Django Unchained” tweet by his girlfriend, Nessa Diab, surfaced.

Ms. Diab tweeted a picture on Aug. 2 portraying both Mr. Lewis and Mr. Bisciotti to Samuel L. Jackson’s and Leonardo DiCaprio’s characters from the 2012 Quentin Tarantino movie.

Mr. Jackson’s character is a slave named Stephen who defends plantation owner Calvin Candie.

“When me and Steve Bisciotti were talking, this is what we were talking about,” Mr. Lewis said, SB Nation reported Tuesday night. “We were talking about giving this kid an opportunity to get back in the National Football League. Look, this is what I wanted to share with people. I have been fighting for this kid behind the table like nobody has. I’ve never been against Colin Kaepernick, but I am against the way he’s done it.”

“Then his girl goes out and put out this racist gesture and doesn’t know we are in the back office about to try to get this guy signed. Steve Bisciotti has said it himself, ‘How can you crucify Ray Lewis when Ray Lewis is the one calling for Colin Kaepernick?’ “

Ms. Diab responded on Tuesday by sharing a tweet by the entertainment Deadspin that read, “Ravens send Ray Lewis out to make Colin Kaepernick’s girlfriend the scapegoat for him still not having an NFL job.”

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