The NFL’s social media reportedly went behind the league’s back to create a video featuring multiple players, which ultimately led to a response from Roger Goodell on Friday.
On Thursday, a video featuring several NFL players circulated online. The video featured players like Michael Thomas, Tyrann Mathieu, Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins.
#StrongerTogether pic.twitter.com/sfwF9Uvgaa
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) June 5, 2020
The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue says the NFL’s content creators went behind the league’s back to work with players dissatisfied with the NFL’s original statement, to create the video and circulate it.
Creators ultimately collaborated directly with players, sans league involvement, to create the video that included Michael Thomas, Tyrann Mathieu, Patrick Mahomes, Saquon Barkley, Odell Beckham Jr., Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and more and pressured NFL to officially respond.
— Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) June 5, 2020
Goodell then shared a video on Friday in which he said the league was “wrong” not to listen to protesting players sooner. He mentioned social injustice, racism, and said “black lives matter” during the video.
Here is what the league wrote in a tweet shared via its social media account on Thursday:
Through Inspire Change, the NFL, Players and our partners have supported programs and initiatives throughout the country to address systemic racism. We will continue using our platform to challenge the injustice around us.
— NFL (@NFL) June 4, 2020
To date we have donated $44 million to support hundreds of worthy organizations. This year, we are committing an additional $20 million to these causes and we will accelerate efforts to highlight their critical work.
We know that we can and need to do more.
— NFL (@NFL) June 4, 2020
