After a win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa interrupted several teammates’ postgame interview with NBC’s Melissa Stark by pointing both index fingers toward the front of his white baseball cap. The words “Make America Great Again” were stitched in gold capital letters.
Presumably the purpose was to show support for former President Donald Trump, who used the slogan as a campaign cry. He won in 2016, lost re-election in 2020 and has taken up the message again this year in his bid for a second term.
Nick Bosa crashed the SNF postgame interview wearing a MAGA hat pic.twitter.com/Rj0T0XpcWB
— NFL Memes (@NFL_Memes) October 28, 2024
Bosa has every right to support whoever he wants. As the saying goes, it’s a free country. But the display – and the intentionality behind it – was curious given that the NFL has gone to great lengths over the past eight years to keep players from making political statements during games.
In 2018, two years after Colin Kaepernick first protested police brutality against Black and brown people by quietly taking a knee during the national anthem, the league changed its pregame policy. In a vote that received thirty votes in favor and two abstentions, the owners required players to stand during “The Star-Spangled Banner” or remain in the locker room until its end.
The vote, and news that players could be fined or suspended for noncompliance, prompted an immediate complaint from the NFL Players Association, the league and the union. finally came to a standstill which meant the new rule did not come into effect.
Still, it was a surprising vote by the owners, not only because the protests actually subsided as there were only a handful of players on their knees, but also because several owners told me the night before the vote that there was no need to rekindle the controversy to stir up.
When the change was approved, I asked Packers CEO Mark Murphy about it.
“We cannot allow Trump to weaponize our competition,” he told me.
Trump was particularly critical of the demonstrators and even went so far referring to them as “bastards” and calling for the termination of their contracts. Never mind that Kaepernick chose his ultimate form of protest on the advice of former Green Beret Nate Boyer, who told him Taking a knee would be more respectful then sit during the national anthem.
Many could not concentrate on the message because of the messenger. I hope the same mistake is not made at Bosa. His actions are are actions. His personal beliefs are are personal beliefs. But if the NFL’s goal is to keep political speech out of its field, then Bosa should face some form of discipline.
The Uniform Rules of the NFL state that players could be fined more than $11,000 for wearing unauthorized logos or branding, which would certainly cover a campaign slogan.
If no action is taken, it would suggest the presence of a double standard and raise the question of whether the league is more comfortable with a white player using his national spotlight to support a presidential candidate than with black players who demonstrate against systemic racism.
The league did not return emails and text messages requesting comment.
As for Bosa, I would have more respect for him if he were ten toes lower in his beliefs. During his meeting with the media after the match, he literally changed hats and refused to discuss his demonstration.
“I’m not going to talk about it too much,” he said, “but I think it’s an important time.”
This is not the first time Bosa has caused controversy with his personal beliefs. Before he was drafted, he regularly praised Trump and called him and Ronald Reagan GOATs (the greatest of all time). In 2016 he has called Kaepernick “a clown.” He deleted his social media accounts leading up to the 2019 draft because they contained messages that could be construed as insensitive or offensive. San Francisco General Manager John Lynch specifically asked him about some posts before the draft, including one he “liked” that contained homophobic and racist hashtags.
He seemed contrite at his post-draft press conferencesaying, ‘I’m sorry if I hurt anyone. I certainly didn’t mean for that to be the case. I think being here (San Francisco) is even better for me as a person because I don’t think there’s any city that you could really be in and that would help you grow as much as this one. I’m going to be surrounded by people of all different kinds, so I’m going to grow as a person. I’m going to be on my own. I’m going to grow up, I’m going to learn a lot of new things. It’s exciting.”
It sounded good, but now it looks like he was acting for the cameras.
That said, my problem, for lack of a better word, is not with Bosa. He is who we thought he was. He is not the only player who supports Trump. Tom Brady, the NFL’s golden boy for much of his career, did interviews with a Trump hat clearly visible in his locker prior to the 2016 election. Trump and Brady both mentioned their friendship, with Brady saying a Trump victory would mean “a putting green on the White House lawn.”
The concern is whether the NFL could show that it has a double standard when it comes to players’ political speech. Kaepernick gets blackballed for his fight for social justice, and Bosa gets: what? Ignored by the league and cheered on by far-right supporters who otherwise demand that athletes, especially black athletes, stick to sports?
If the NFL chooses to fine Bosa, it will likely announce its decision Saturday as part of the regular cycle for on-field penalties.
On the other hand, double standards are par for the course in the country’s most popular and powerful league. Commissioner Roger Goodell is known for being tough on players and soft on owners. Michael Bidwill (Arizona Cardinals), Robert Kraft (New England Patriots), Jimmy Haslam (Cleveland Browns) and Woody Johnson (New York Jets) have all engaged in conduct that appears to violate the league’s personal conduct policy – which holds owners and executives accountable. higher standard. However, no one has been publicly punished by the commissioner.
I am not holding my breath that action will be taken against Bosa. The writing hangs on the wall and is written in black and white.
(Photo by Nick Bosa: Michael Owens/Getty Images)