--- title: Emmys 2018: Jenifer Lewis Sends a Red Carpet Message in Nike description: The Black-ish actor Jenifer Lewis wore a Nike sweatshirt on the 2018 Emmys red carpet to show support for Colin Kaepernick. canonical: https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-09-17T23:26:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:14.465Z og:title: Why Jennifer Lewis Wore a Sweatshirt to the Emmys 2018 og:description: There's a reason for it og:url: https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9caa71bd08851/69893a79ab6d775b026b3b2c/jennifer-lewis-nike-shirt-emmys-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: NBC's "70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Jennifer Lewis Wore a Sweatshirt to the Emmys 2018 twitter:description: There's a reason for it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9caa71bd08851/69893a79ab6d775b026b3b2c/jennifer-lewis-nike-shirt-emmys-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Jenifer Lewis Made a Statement in a Sweatshirt on the Emmys 2018 Red Carpet by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 17, 2018 11:26 PM UTC  Actor Jenifer Lewis arrives to the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018. Actor Jenifer Lewis arrives to the 70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018.Kevork Djansezian/NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images via Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 17, 2018 11:26 PM UTC Actor Jenifer Lewis made a statement on the [2018 Emmys red carpet](http://time.com/5389248/emmys-red-carpet-fashion-2018/) with a show of support for Colin Kaepernick. Wearing a Nike sweatshirt with a bedazzled swoosh across the chest, black leggings and black and white shoes, the _Black-ish_ star sported the athletic look ahead of the 70th primetime Emmy awards to stand in solidarity with Kaepernick. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, whose kneeling protests against racial injustice during the national anthem before football games sparked a social movement last year, became the face of [Nike’s new “Just Do It” campaign](http://time.com/5386204/colin-kaepernick-nike-keeps-winning/) in September. “I am wearing Nike to applaud them for supporting Colin Kaepernick and his protest against racial injustice and police brutality,” Lewis [told Variety](https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/jenifer-lewis-nike-emmys-red-carpet-colin-kaepernick-1202944993/) on the Emmys red carpet.  Jenifer Lewis attends the 70th Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 17, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. Kevin Mazur—Getty Images Lewis said she had thought about what she could do that would be a meaningful contribution. “I’ll wear Nike,” she said. “I’ll wear Nike to say thank you. Thank you for leading the resistance. We need more corporate America to stand up also.” Kaepernick’s endorsement deal with Nike has prompted backlash from critics of the quarterback’s anthem protests, with some customers who filmed themselves destroying products from the company in the wake of the announcement. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/"},"headline":"How Jenifer Lewis Made a Statement in a Sweatshirt on the Emmys 2018 Red Carpet","datePublished":"2018-09-17T23:26:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:14.465Z","description":"The 'Black-ish' star wore a Nike sweatshirt in support of Colin Kaepernick","url":"https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","awards","fashion","Emmys 2018"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9caa71bd08851/69893a79ab6d775b026b3b2c/jennifer-lewis-nike-shirt-emmys-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68a9caa71bd08851/69893a79ab6d775b026b3b2c/jennifer-lewis-nike-shirt-emmys-2018.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NBC's \"70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards\" - Arrivals","caption":"NBC's \"70th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Kevork Djansezian/NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5398823/emmys-2018-jenifer-lewis/","name":"How Jenifer Lewis Made a Statement in a Sweatshirt on the Emmys 2018 Red Carpet"}}]}] ```