By now, you’ve probably seen the video the NFL released with all of its players condemning racism, and urging fans not to be passive any longer. You’ve probably also seen the subsequent video from Roger Goodell, who admitted the league’s shortcomings in listening to its players until now.
While both of these videos shared important messages, we had no idea the length that was gone to for the first one to be created. According to the Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue and Lindsay Jones, the NFL player video was created by a ‘rogue NFL employee’ who works in the league’s social media department, and sent a DM to Michael Thomas of the Saints without approval.
The ‘rogue employee’ spoke out on Twitter following the story’s publication, explaining that being an ally meant more to him than the possibility of losing his job.
According to the story, the league ended up approving the video, but the group was ready to go ahead with it either way - no matter the repercussions.
Of course, the importance of this video cannot be understated, as it really forced people (including the commissioner) to listen to and understand the struggle of Black people in society.
