
NBC
News reported the NFL will delete ‘End Racism’ from the end zones for the
Super Bowl.
It’s unclear
if the end zones edit was made to appease President Donald J. Trump—scheduled
to attend the game—who has expressed his disdain for all DEIBA+ initiatives.
Somebody
should invite Colin
Kaepernick to take a knee during the opening ceremonies.
NFL will
remove ‘End Racism’ from the end zones ahead of Super Bowl
The
announcement comes the same day a White House official told NBC News that
President Donald Trump would be attending the game.
By Kyla
Guilfoil
The NFL will
remove the words “End Racism” from the end zones at Caesars Superdome in New
Orleans ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, the NFL confirmed to NBC News.
Instead, the
field will have stencils of the phrase “Choose Love” as the Kansas City Chiefs
take on the Philadelphia Eagles, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a
statement Tuesday.
Throughout the
2024-25 season, NFL teams have advertised pro-diversity slogans at their
stadiums and on their uniforms. The field stencils have been a part of the
league since 2020, McCarthy said.
“Teams have
used on the field this year ‘Vote,’ ‘End Racism,’ ‘Stop Hate,’ and ‘Choose
Love.’ This is part of the NFL’s Inspire Change,” he said.
At their
conference championship games on Jan. 26, the Chiefs had “Choose Love” in their
end zone and the Eagles had “End Racism.”
The NFL said
Tuesday that it would have stenciling only of the phrase “Choose Love.” Sunday’s
game will be the first Super Bowl since February 2021 at which “End Racism”
will not be in an end zone stencil.
“The Super Bowl
is often a snapshot in time and the NFL is in a unique position to capture and
lift the imagination of the country,” McCarthy said.
He said the
phrase is most fitting because of tragedies the country has endured in recent
weeks.
“‘Choose Love’
is appropriate to use as our country has endured in recent weeks wild fires in
southern California, the terrorist attack here in New Orleans, the plane and
helicopter crash near our nation’s capital and the plane crash in Philadelphia,”
McCarthy said.
The statement
comes the same day a White House official told NBC News that President Donald
Trump will attend the Super Bowl.
The Secret
Service said in a statement that “extensive planning and coordination have been
in place to ensure the safety of all attendees, players, and staff,” with
security measures having been “further enhanced this year, given that this will
be the first time a sitting President of the United States will attend the
event.”
“The U.S.
Secret Service has been on the ground for days, working in close collaboration
with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, as well as the NFL, to
implement a comprehensive security plan,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret
Service’s communications chief.
Trump has made
his stance against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives clear since he
took, signing an executive order on his first day in office to end DEI programs
in federal agencies and putting employees in those programs on leave.
After the
deadly midair collision of an American Airlines plane and Army Black Hawk
helicopter in the Washington, D.C., area last week — which McCarthy cited as
one of the tragedies inspiring the “Choose Love” slogan — Trump again took aim
at DEI, implying diversity policies were at fault for the disaster.
NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a news conference Monday that he does not
think the league’s policies to promote diversity conflict with Trump’s push to
eliminate DEI programs.
“Our policies
have been designed to be well within the law, well within the practice,”
Goodell said. “There are no quotas in our system. This is about opening that
funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL.”
He added that
the NFL’s policies are consistent “with the current administration, as well as
the last administration.”
“We got into diversity efforts because we felt
it was the right thing for the National Football League, and we’re going to
continue those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, I think
we’ve proven ourselves, that it does make the NFL better,” Goodell said.