Thinking about boycotting the SuperBowl? Here's three reasons why you should.
By Alexis Alex
Patriots and Eagles helmets. Photo via Wordpress.com
Today is the biggest day in football, the Superbowl. Millions of people will gather to watch America's biggest game between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. Although avid sports fans may be excited for the game, this year, the Superbowl has been met with tremendous controversy. The NFL is worried about the ratings, more than 200,000 people have signed a petition boycotting the Superbowl in honor of Kapernick, and although Trump's favorite football team is the Patriots, he is not attending the SuperBowl. Although it might be easy to attend the nearest Superbowl party for some good food and drinks, let us not forget the damage the NFL has done this year. Just in case you are on the fence about watching the Super Bowl or going to the Superbowl party, here are three reasons why you should boycott the Superbowl:
1. Justin Timberlake Is performing
Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson after the warbled malfunction in 2004. Photo via Rolling Stone.
Okay, I know this may be a petty reason, but this deserves to be talked about. Justin Timberlake is performing at the halftime show this year and this reeks of white male privilege. The last time Timberlake performed at the Superbowl was in 2004, when the infamous "nipplegate" occurred. For those who may not remember, Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson's performance of his hit song "Rock Your Body" in 2004 ended in a scandal with Timberlake tearing off a piece of Jackson’s clothing and exposing part of her breast. The incident caused a media frenzy, resulting in hundreds of thousands of complaints to the FCC, more than a half-million dollar fine for CBS, and basically ruined Jackson's career. Although the NFL confirmed Jackson is not banned from future Super Bowl performances, Janet Jackson was backlisted by Viacom, the parent of company of MTV who produced the Superbowl performance that year. Viacom backlisted Jackson's music videos from MTV, VH1, and all radio stations under their umbrella and non-Viacom media partners as well. The backlash for Janet was too real, while Timberlake remained unscathed. Timberlake even acknowledged the disparity between him and Janet in the media, he said in an interview in 2006, “If you consider it 50-50, then I probably got 10 percent of the blame. I think America is harsher on women. I think America is unfairly harsh on ethnic people.”
Therefore, when Timberlake announced that he would be headling the Superbowl this year, many eyes rolled. We all know Janet Jackson will never see a Superbowl stage again, but of course, golden boy Justin Timberlake gets a pass, okay *side eye*. But of course, Black Twitter has come to the rescue and declared today, #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay to honor Janet Jackson as a response to the Timberlake's Super Bowl performance. Ahh, thank you Black Twitter!
2. The NFL is *lowkey* racist.
Let's just look at the facts. Around 70 percent of the NFL's players are Black, but they are barely any Black owners, head coaches, or quarterbacks. Let us not forget….Colin Kapernick? There is no doubt that Kapernick has been blackballed by the NFL because of his protests which has proven that Black activism has no place in the NFL. Should we continue to support an organization that openly shuns Black political expression? Oh, and let us not forget Trump's numerous attacks on Black NFL Players on Twitter:
The NFL barely responded to Trump's attack on their players and only a few *subtle* protests followed Trump's comments to symbolize "unity" among all the players for the hype of the moment. But, I guarantee there will be no kneeling or fist raising in this Superbowl folks, the NFL wont allow it. The NFL has encouraged their Black players to stop protesting in order to save their white, racist viewership. Think about that before you turn your TV on.
3. The Patriots.
Quarterback Tom Brady and Trump. Photo via abcnews.com
Okay, I know I might get some heat for this but lets be honest, the New England Patriots are cheaters. From SpyGate to Deflategate and every in between, we cannot deny that the Patriots are historic cheaters and proud of it. No matter how many times the Patriots cheat whether on a big or little scale, the NFL barely punishes the team and soon welcomes them back into the league with open arms. The Patriots entire legacy of Super Bowl wins and dominating the NFL has been built off of cheating scandals. To top it all off, quarterback Tom Brady, head coach Bill Belicheck, and team owner, Bob Kraft are all good friends with Trump. Brady was seen with a Trump hat in his football locker, Belicheck and Brady wrote Trump a letter congratulating him on "tremendous campaign" during the Presidential election, plus Trump and Bob Kraft are very close friends and golfing buddies. This is Trump's favorite football team, folks. Lets be honest, if you are a fan of the Patriots, you are glorifying all of the White supremacy this team embodies. End of Story.
In the end, whether you decide to watch the Superbowl or not, remember these three things before you make your decision. This has been the most controversial year for the NFL and the ratings from the Superbowl will show the impact the controversy has really made on their viewership. If Superbowl ratings drop significantly, this will show the NFL that people are fed up and things need to change. If the ratings are still high, nothing will change. The choice is yours.
