EA Sports is doing damage control.
The day after it was discovered that Colin Kaepernick’s name had been censored from YG’s song “Big Bank” on the soundtrack for “Madden NFL 19,” EA Sports claimed that it had made an “unfortunate mistake” in an official statement Thursday night.
The video game creators assured that Kaepernick’s name would be restored on the soundtrack by Aug. 6, the day before the game’s Hall of Fame Edition gets into players’ hands.
“We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack,” EA said in a statement issued Thursday evening. “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. 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.”
After the video surfaced on Twitter, the video game company was bombarded with angry messages that claimed the censorship was deliberate and another malicious attempt to ostracize Kaepernick from the NFL. Many claimed that they would boycott the game.
Artist Big Sean – who was featured on the track and references Kaepernick in his verse — called out the NFL and EA Sports on Twitter, claiming that no one had even conversed with his legal team to make alterations to the song.
“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,” the rapper wrote on Twitter. “When he’s not a curse, he’s a gift! Nobody from my team approved any of this.”
Big Sean wasn’t the only verified user voicing their disappointment in the exclusion of Kaepernick’s name. Rockets point guard Chris Paul said, “I didn’t realize @Kaepernick7’s name was a curse word…” in a tweet along with a shrugging shoulder emoji.
“The fact the Madden bleeped out Colin Kaepernick’s name is sad and disappointing knowing that multiple people allowed it to happen,” Lakers shooting guard Josh Hart wrote in a tweet.
Kaepernick has been at odds with the NFL since 2016 when he protested racial inequalities by kneeling during the national anthem. After pursuing free agency in 2017, the former 49er was not given a tryout and seemed to not be welcome anywhere in the NFL.