US President Donald Trump has criticised sportswear brand Nike after it announced Colin Kaepernick would be the face of its new campaign.
The NFL player announced the deal on Twitter in a post that said: "Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt."
Nike, Kaepernick and #JustDoIt began trending across the United States after Nike launched the campaign.
Mr Trump is yet to tweet about the campaign, but told conservative website The Daily Caller he thinks it sends the wrong kind of message.
"I think it's a terrible message that they're sending and the purpose of them doing it, maybe there's a reason for them doing it," Mr Trump said.
"I think as far as sending a message, I think it's a terrible message and a message that shouldn't be sent. There's no reason for it."
He later said that Nike could make its own decisions about how to promote its products.
"It is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn't do, but I personally am on a different side of it."
The President has publicly clashed with the NFL player before, slating Kaepernick when he began the movement of kneeling during the national anthem in a protest against racism in the US.
Mr Trump viewed the act as disrespectful to the flag and veterans and tweeted several times to criticise Kaepernick and other players that followed his lead.
"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out! He's fired. He's fired!'" Mr Trump told a rally in September 2017.
Newshub.
