{"id":2369330,"date":"2024-11-15T08:38:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T13:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nfl-allowed-kaepernicks-kneeling-but-fines-bosa-for-maga-hat\/"},"modified":"2024-11-15T08:40:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T13:40:55","slug":"nfl-allowed-kaepernicks-kneeling-but-fines-bosa-for-maga-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nfl-allowed-kaepernicks-kneeling-but-fines-bosa-for-maga-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Allowed Kaepernick&#8217;s Kneeling But Fines Bosa For MAGA Hat"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnfl-allowed-kaepernicks-kneeling-but-fines-bosa-for-maga-hat%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2369330&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Last week, NFL player Nick Bosa, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/week-two-college-football-recap\/\" title=\"Week Two College Football Recap\">star defensive end<\/a> for\u200c the San Francisco 49ers, was fined $11,255 for \u2064wearing a &#8220;Make \u2062America Great \u200cAgain&#8221; hat during a postgame interview. \u200bThis incident has sparked discussions about the NFL&#8217;s stance on political \u200dstatements, especially in light of past controversies. Critical comparisons \u200chave been drawn to former quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was not fined for kneeling during the National Anthem in\u200d 2016 to protest\u200d police brutality against Black individuals. Critics argue that the NFL&#8217;s disparate reactions to Bosa and Kaepernick reveal hypocrisy, particularly since the league allows players to display political messages on \u200dtheir helmets and in end zones. The article examines \u2062the inconsistency in the NFL&#8217;s policies and raises\u200b questions about \u200bfreedom \u200dof speech within the league. It suggests\u200b that while the NFL seems to \u200dembrace certain political messages, it penalizes others, highlighting a complex and \u200bambiguous approach\u200d to political expression in sports.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Last week, the NFL fined San Francisco 49ers star defensive end Nick Bosa&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/sports\/football\/nfl-nick-bosa-maga-hat-fine-trump-3dd0cbb8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$11,255<\/a>&nbsp;for displaying a &ldquo;Make America Great Again&rdquo; hat when he crashed the postgame, on-field interview of teammate Brock Purdy after their Oct. 27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This isn&rsquo;t the first time that the NFL has fined a league employee for making a right<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/they-call-their-fellow-employees-bigots-conservatives-at-disney-issue-open-statement-detailing-hostile-work-environment\/\" title=\"\u2018They Call Their Fellow Employees Bigots\u2019: Conservatives At Disney Issue Open Statement Detailing Hostile Work Environment\">-wing political statement<\/a>. In 2022, Washington Commanders Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/34070358\/washington-commanders-defensive-coordinator-jack-del-rio-fined-100000-comments-us-capitol-invasion-george-floyd-murder\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fined<\/a>&nbsp;$100,000 because he referred to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6 as a &ldquo;dustup.&rdquo; Jan. 6 may not have been a &ldquo;dustup,&rdquo; but should an employee be fined $100,000 because he mischaracterized it as such? Is there no freedom of speech left in the NFL?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Many people have compared Bosa&rsquo;s political statement to the actions of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the National Anthem before every game in 2016 in protest of the highly publicized police shootings of black men that summer. People on both sides assert that there is hypocrisy on display in the differing reactions to these two political stunts. <\/p>\n<p>Some claim the NFL is hypocritical for fining Bosa for his political statement while never fining Kaepernick for his political protest of the National Anthem. (In fact, the NFL <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/03\/21\/sports\/colin-kaepernick-nfl-settlement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">paid<\/a>&nbsp;Kaepernick millions to settle a lawsuit in which he asserted that owners were colluding to keep him out of the league.) Others have accused NFL fans of being racists because of the collective outrage at Kaepernick&rsquo;s political protest&nbsp;<em>before<\/em>&nbsp;the game while remaining relatively quiet about Bosa&rsquo;s political statement&nbsp;<em>after<\/em>&nbsp;the game.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But fans were not outraged because Kaepernick made a political statement or because of the substance of that statement &mdash; they were outraged because of&nbsp;<em>when<\/em>&nbsp;he chose to make that statement. Kaepernick chose to co-opt the National Anthem to promote his own political agenda. The playing of the National Anthem is supposed to be a moment for everybody at the stadium, both teams and every fan, regardless of their political beliefs, to come together and unite as one &mdash; as Americans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It is the moment when we are to find common ground and focus on what unites us, not what divides us. Even though we may be enemies on the field, we are all Americans. That moment should not be exploited for political purposes. Kaepernick did just that, and the league looked the other way.<\/p>\n<p>The NFL is also inconsistent when it comes down so hard against Bosa for his political message while not only allowing but <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">promoting players putting political messages<\/a> on the back of their helmets. Throughout the course of an NFL game, the fans watching on TV will see&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/09\/05\/sports\/nfl-social-justice.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">messages<\/a>&nbsp;like &ldquo;Black Lives Matter,&rdquo; &ldquo;End Racism,&rdquo; &ldquo;Say Their Stories,&rdquo; or &ldquo;It Takes All of Us&rdquo; printed on the player&rsquo;s helmets. The NFL has even painted these messages on the backs of the end zones for all to see. So it becomes very murky when the NFL fines Bosa for wearing a hat with a political message on it&nbsp;<em>after<\/em>&nbsp;the game when the NFL promotes political messages on helmets&nbsp;<em>during<\/em>&nbsp;the game.<\/p>\n<p>It is not that the NFL wants to remain apolitical &mdash; the league fully embraces the politics that consume the country every four years. For weeks leading up to this year&rsquo;s election, fans had to sit through numerous public service announcements in which NFL players told their fans to go out and vote, that it is their civic duty. In 2020, stadiums around the league in Seattle, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit, Houston, and Philadelphia were used as voting centers for the presidential election. The league has no problem wading into politics, so why did it fine Bosa?<\/p>\n<p>The answer to this discrepancy is found in the rule that the league claims Bosa violated. Rule 5, section 4, article 8 of the NFL&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/operations.nfl.com\/the-rules\/nfl-rulebook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rulebook<\/a>&nbsp;states: &ldquo;Throughout the period on game day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nfl-star-who-wore-a-maga-hat-on-field-calmly-takes-a-victory-lap-as-reporters-pester-him-about-election\/\" title=\"NFL Star Who Wore a MAGA Hat on Field Calmly Takes a Victory Lap as Reporters Pester Him About Election\">conveying personal messages<\/a> either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>So, the NFL wants to pretend that there is freedom of speech as long as the speech in question is &ldquo;approved in advance by the League office.&rdquo; Controlled speech is not &ldquo;free speech.&rdquo; The NFL only wants to give the appearance of allowing the players freedom of expression while controlling which messages can be expressed and which can&rsquo;t.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Judd Garrett is a graduate of Princeton University and a former NFL player, coach, and executive. He has been a contributor to the website RealClearPolitics. He has recently published his first novel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s?k=judd+garrett+no+wind&amp;crid=349BRYWT8KFAF&amp;sprefix=judd+ga%2Caps%2C194&amp;ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_7\">&#8220;No Wind.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NFL fined Nick Bosa $11,255 for wearing a political hat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3534,"featured_media":2369331,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-Untitled-2024-11-13T111634.311.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15454,6311,41253,7215],"class_list":["post-2369330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bosa","tag-kaepernick","tag-maga-hat","tag-nfl"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Copy-of-Untitled-2024-11-13T111634.311.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2369334,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369330\/revisions\/2369334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2369331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}