‘All the guys wanted me to do it’: NFL players respond to Trump-dance publicity as league passes issue down to networks
NFL players will not be disciplined for doing Donald Trump-inspired celebrations, with multiple players saying they are simply trying to have fun.
After San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa was fined over $11,000 for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat for mere seconds during a postgame interview, he later did the Trump dance after a sack against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Many assumed this would lead to the league clamping down on the politically themed celebrations and making another example out of Bosa. However, the league later revealed that its guidance on the topic was actually no guidance at all.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said there is “no issue” with the dance by Bosa or any of the players in the last two weeks, Blaze News reported.
Las Vegas Raiders tight end Brock Bowers was one of the first players to offer up an explanation for his dance moves after the fact. The 21-year-old told USA Today that he thought the dance would be a cool addition to his touchdown repertoire.
“I’ve seen everyone do it,” Bowers explained. “I watched the UFC fight [Saturday] night, and Jon Jones did it.”
“I like watching UFC, so I saw it and thought it was cool,” he added.
Bosa, on the other hand, said that his teammates were the ones who pushed him into performing the on-field shimmy.
“All the guys wanted me to do it. I wasn’t even going to do it, but the boys reminded me. And it was fun.”
‘It’s up to the networks to cover them as they see fit.’
At the same time, Front Office Sports asked the NFL spokesman if the league had given any directives to television networks surrounding whether or not they should show the celebrations. The league seemingly pulled a Trumpian move of its own, pushing the decision to states (networks).
“It’s up to the networks to cover them as they see fit,” the league spokesman said of the dances.
Certain networks have been caught ignoring or outright clipping certain viewpoints. NBC in particular has has edited out remarks relating to Christianity and also entirely avoided the fact that Elon Musk was at an NFL game the network was airing. While this is certainly the network’s own prerogative and freedom of choice, these decisions certainly have a much bigger downside when they are noticed.
Furthermore, the NFL’s comments came after reporter Safid Deen said just days earlier that the Las Vegas Raiders’ public relations team ended their question period after he asked Bowers about his Trump dance.
“Raiders PR ended his postgame availability after my question,” Deen wrote on X.
Despite this, the team still posted a stand-alone video of Bowers doing the dance on social media.
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