The controversial reason the NFL is taking its “End Racism” message out of the Super Bowl

With the news that President Donald Trump will be attending Super Bowl LIX this Sunday as a guest of New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson, the NFL has made a bold move. The “End Racism” message that’s been in the end zone of every Super Bowl since 2021 will not appear this time around, despite NFL commissioner Roger Goodell saying that he supports the league’s policies promoting diversity.

Why the NFL is taking out the “end racism” message at Super Bowl LIX

There’s been a lot of conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion since Trump was inaugurated, as he’s already begun to do away with DEI programs and even blamed a tragic plane crash on them. However, Goodell said that the NFL would continue with its diversity and inclusion efforts, of which he is “proud”.

“We got into diversity efforts because we felt it was the right thing for the National Football League,” Goodell said. “And we’re going to continue those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, we’ve proven it to ourselves. It does make the NFL better.”

However, two anonymous league sources said that during Super Bowl LIX when the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs take the field, the “End Racism” message that’s been displayed in the end zones for the last four years, will not appear at Caesars Superdome. Instead, the messages will read “Choose Love” and “It Takes all of Us”. This news comes just one day after reports announced that Trump would be in attendance.

These types of messages (“End Racism,” “It Takes All of Us,” “Stop Hate,” “Choose Love”, “Vote”) started to appear in the end zones of games in 2020, two years after the NFL launched its “Inspire Change” campaign. The campaign was meant to promote diversity and inclusion - exactly what Trump wants to get rid of. All of these changes came as the country was protesting police brutality following the brutal murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, by a police officer in Minneapolis. San Francisco 49ers' quarterback at the time, Colin Kaepernick, began kneeling during the national anthem (something Trump criticized at the time), with other players in the league following suit, getting the league involved in the conversation on racism.

NFL spokesperson Bryan McCarthy said that the decision to change the message was not a reaction to the current political climate, but rather a response to recent tragedies in the U.S., including the terrorist attack in New Orleans, the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles, and the fatal plane crash near Washington D.C.

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Why LIX?

“We felt it was an appropriate statement for what the country has collectively endured, given recent tragedies, and can serve as an inspiration,” said McCarthy.s

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