Ex-NFL star Larry Johnson just WENT OFF on Colin Kaepernick -- saying a true civil rights leader like MLK would have fought the NFL to the bitter end instead of taking settlement money from the "oppressor."
The former All Pro running back is fuming -- saying Kaepernick's whole movement against the NFL was a "waste of time" because the settlement deal he signed "corrupted and diluted his message."
Remember, Kap sued the NFL for collusion in 2017 -- claiming owners and execs conspired to keep him out of the league for his kneeling demonstration, which shined a light on police brutality on minorities.
Johnson was down with Kap's cause -- but feels the QB betrayed all of the people who looked up to him by agreeing to end his fight for an undisclosed settlement with the NFL.
"If your backdrop is going to be the African American civil rights presence that it brought from the '60s and you're going to use that for your own causes, you don't sell out. "
He added, "You don't turn your message into a Nike hoodie."
Johnson says Kaepernick KNEW he had the NFL on the ropes but he "gave them a way out."
"Now I don't know what activist ... Martin Luther King or Malcolm X ... I don't know what civil rights leader that you even saw or follow that made you even think that selling out to your oppressor or signing a deal with your oppressor was the way to go."