Anyone who has watched pro football games on TV has heard the disclaimer — “any rebroadcast or other use of this telecast without the express written consent of the NFL is prohibited.”
In most cases, the NFL aggressively enforces its rights to game footage. NBC, for example, has the ability to use highlights for the live broadcast of PFT Live on NBCSN and Peacock. Those highlights must be replaced with still images, however, before the clips are published on digital platforms.
Earlier this week, one of the various White House social-media videos hyping the war in Iran included a montage of NFL highlights, with a big hit cutting to unclassified footage of a missile strike while AC/DC’s Thunderstruck provided the soundtrack. (The video also includes a few hits from college football games.)
On Tuesday, we asked the league for comment as to the use of NFL-copyrighted footage for the clip. We received no response.
Also receiving no response was Robert Klemko of the Washington Post. His Thursday article included reactions from two of the players featured in the clip.
“For that play to be associated with bombing human beings makes me sick,” former Nebraska receiver Kenny Bell told Klemko. “I don’t want anything to do with images like that.”
Bell believes the video should be deleted.
“I think it is very important to draw the line somewhere and this video is a really good example of where to draw the line,” Bell said. “The killing of people is something that’s very, very serious and should not be taken lightly. . . . It scares me for our society that you can be scrolling through social media looking at dog photos and suddenly you’re seeing someone blown up.”
Former Buccaneers linebacker Mason Foster, whose hit on then-Patriots receiver Chad Johnson appears in the clip, also objects to the video.
“I’m at a loss for words,” Foster told Klemko. “It’s a strange feeling, seeing those clips like that. I don’t think anything going on in the world today is as simple as a great football play or a hit. I’m still wrapping my head around it. . . . When people are losing their lives, I don’t think it can compare to a game.”
Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, now an ESPN analyst, appears in the video, applying a hit to former Patriots receiver Wes Welker. Clark voiced a strong objection during an episode of The Pivot podcast.
“I am disappointed that the video was even made,” Clark said, via Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing. “To have [Thunderstruck] and football highlights on a video about war is one of the more insensitive things that I’ve ever seen. There are families here in our country whose loved ones have decided to give their lives to fight for our rights and our freedoms, who don’t see war as a sport. War doesn’t deserve a highlight film.”
Clark had more to say.
“For our regime to be as unserious, as unprofessional, as laughable, and as illegitimate as our leadership is right now, is embarrassing. And it tells you the difference between a public servant and a reality star, right?” Clark said, per Kleen. “Because the reality star needs everybody to know at all times, ‘Look at me, look at the attention I’m garnering, we’re doing this for me.’ The public servant stands at attention for 45 minutes in a salute because he understands what those soldiers who gave their lives have done for our country.
“I think we’ve lost, 100 percent, any credibility. We’ve lost all decorum, we’ve lost all integrity, we’ve lost all character. And I believe that. . . . the White House post involving myself and other NFL players is absolutely disgusting and despicable.”
The video has not been deleted. The NFL has still had nothing to say about it.
Read the full article here
