Colin Kaepernick probably won’t hear his name and jersey number called over the PA system at an NFL game this season, even though former players feel he’s good enough to play on most teams.
Now an “unfortunate mistake” by EA Sports, makers of the Madden video game franchise, will keep Kaepernick’s name entirely out of the NFL-sanctioned video game. Kaepernick’s name is censored in a song on the official Madden NFL 19 soundtrack.
According to SB Nation, a song titled “Big Bank” includes the line “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.” The Madden version censors the name of the former 49ers quarterback who was the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem and, thus, began a movement that has drawn the ire of Donald Trump—who called him a “son of a bitch.”
EA Sports issued the following statement about the omission.
— Madden NFL 24 (@EAMaddenNFL) August 3, 2018
This oversight might be considered an honest mistake by a busy video game maker if the exact same thing didn’t happen last season.
From Pro Football Talk:
The soundtrack for the version of game released in August 2017 included Bars of Soap from Mike WiLL Made-It. The song includes this line: ‘She be hopin’ that I take a knee like Kaepernick, yes.’ EA removed the words ‘like Kaepernick’ from the Madden version of the song. The omission apparently went unnoticed for months; a Twitter user responded to the PFT story on the Madden 19 omission with a link to the audio from Madden 18. PFT separately confirmed that the Madden 18 soundtrack does indeed remove “like Kaepernick” from the song.
Big Sean and YG, who appear on “Big Bank,” both publicly stated they had nothing to do with Kaepernick’s name being omitted from the song and don’t approve of the edit in any way.
It’s disappointing and appalling @NFL & @EA took @Kaepernick7’s name out of my verse on Big Bank for Madden 19, like it was a curse word. When he's not a curse, he's a gift! Nobody from my team approved any of this.
— Sean Don (@BigSean) August 2, 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_x5rFHerc/
Kaepernick’s attorney has also been muzzled by a court order all summer, so the beleaguered quarterback’s name doesn’t come up much in the news anymore either. Kaepernick is suing the NFL and claiming collusion for his inability to land a roster spot on any of the 32 NFL teams.
H/T CBS Sports