Evander Kane calls out Sidney Crosby for not speaking out against injustice.

San Jose Sharks forward Evander Kane had a pretty terrible take this week when it came to the story dominating headlines over the past several days, the riots in Minnesota and in other parts of the country and the horrific incident that set those riots into motion. 

Kane, who is understandably frustrated at the whole situation, was a recent guest on ESPN's first take where he shared his personal thoughts on what has been going on around the country. Unsurprisingly Kane was outraged about the whole thing but where I think he crossed the line is by personally calling out other professional athletes who have instead chosen to not get involved in the controversy.

"We need so many more athletes that don't look like me speaking out about this, having the same amount of outrage that I have inside, and using that to voice their opinion, to voice their frustration, because that's the only way it's going to change," said Kane as per ESPN.

It is all well and good for Kane to want others to share in his anger and there are of course thousands of people who do in fact share that anger, but Kane would go on to call out athletes who historically have been extremely apolitical, athletes like Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

"We've been outraged for hundreds of years and nothing's changed," Kane continued. "It's time for guys like Tom Brady, and Sidney Crosby, and those type(s) of figures to speak up about what is right and, clearly in this case, what is unbelievably wrong. Because that's the only way we're going to actually create that unified anger to create that necessary change, especially when you talk about systematic racism."

The reality here is that Crosby has never been a political figure and has never involved himself in hot button political issues and given the current political climate in America that seems like a wise decision. There is little doubt in my mind that this has been by design and frankly if a professional athlete wants to live his life privately and not involve themselves in these types of controversies I absolutely respect that position. In spite of that Crosby has always gone above and beyond with his charitable efforts, including just recently making a huge donation to local food banks in an effort to support those most impacted by the current global pandemic, and to call his character into question like this seems to be in rather poor taste, at least that is how I see it.

Oh and especially in the case of Sidney Crosby, while he does live in America it is important to remember that he is in fact Canadian.

Do you agree with Kane? Should high profile athletes be forced into the spotlight during moments like this? Or should they have the right to choose not to get involved in these volatile conflicts?