In a bizarre move, EA has censored a lyric referencing Colin Kaepernick in the upcoming release of Madden 19.
Check out this censored version of YG’s ‘Big Bank’ where the lyrics “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick,” do not feature the former San Francisco 49ers QB’s name.
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’ a weird move for EA to even make. Colin Kaepernick might not be on an active NFL roster, but he isn’t retired nor is he banned from the league. He’s an advocate for human rights – even if some in the league are against his message. But, that doesn’t mean he should be censored in a football video game.
I honestly don’t get it. By censoring Kaepernick’s name from the song, EA is making a non-story into a big one. It’s bad publicity for the game and entirely unnecessary. Hopefully, EA restores the lyric or offers up a pretty damn good explanation to why Kaepernick’s name was censored, otherwise, it’s an incredibly bad look.
UPDATE: EA Sports says the censor was a mistake.
JUST IN: EA Sports says it didn’t mean to omit Colin Kaepernick’s name in YG’s song it licensed for use in Madden ‘19. Will add his name back in update. pic.twitter.com/ck8UhxI1fu
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 3, 2018
[Deadspin]