EA Sports Responds After Controversially Censoring Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick was at the center of some controversy this week that had nothing to do with kneeling for the national anthem.
The former 49ers quarterback was curiously edited out of a song on the EA Sports Madden 19 soundtrack.
The song, Big Bank by the rapper YG, has a verse by Big Sean that references Kaepernick.
The verse in question is: “You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.”
It didn’t take long for fans who had early access to the upcoming video game to realize that the name “Colin Kaepernick” was edited out of the official soundtrack. Hear the audio below.
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
Big Sean was not happy upon learning that the controversial Kaepernick, who remains unsigned, was edited out.
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
Some high-profile Kaepernick fans were upset by the move and posted their dissatisfaction on Twitter.
Not buying @EAMaddenNFL this year🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/cilHum2OY4
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) August 2, 2018
Didn’t realize @Kaepernick7’s name was a curse word… 🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/7Ti79Qy2Mz
— Chris Paul (@CP3) August 2, 2018
So they’ve edited Colin Kaepernick’s name off of the Big Sean verse on the Madden 19 soundtrack. They barely edit profanity off the games. But his name must go?
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) August 2, 2018
EA Sports said it was a misunderstanding and promptly issued an apology.
— Madden NFL 24 (@EAMaddenNFL) August 3, 2018
“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,” EA Sports officials wrote Thursday.
The company said the soundtrack will be updated Monday with the original Kaepernick line included. The game officially releases Friday.
“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 apologize to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake,” EA officials said.
Meanwhile, Kaepernick remains an unsigned free agent. He hasn’t played in the NFL since 2016.
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