The continued erasure of former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick from the league escalated yesterday when it was discovered that his name was censored from the league's official video game.
YG's track Big Bank, which features 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Nicki Minaj is one of 30 songs featured in the game but it was discovered yesterday that his name was blanked from 'Madden NFL 19.' EA have labeled the incident an "unfortunate mistake."
Kaepernick's protests against racial injustice and police brutality saw him become a divisive figure within the organization and eventually he was left jobless. 'Big Sean' slated the decision to blank out the reference calling it 'appalling.'
bad enough @Kaepernick7 still not signed, but now they even edit his name out in this year’s @EAMaddenNFL during @BigSean verse, smh pic.twitter.com/3nvkB26z5r
— Mr. Changing Lives (@jeanclervil) August 2, 2018
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
Much love brother! Thank you for having my back!✊🏾 https://t.co/yKz3nBMiPb
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) August 2, 2018
EA issued a statement apologising.
We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack. Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks. We messed up, and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again.
We meant no disrespect, and we apologise to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake.
Kaepernick remains without a franchise. Earlier this year, the league approved a controversial policy which requires players on the field to stand for the national anthem pre-game.
