In 2016-2017, NFL players began kneeling for the National Anthem, a trend typified by washed up quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his hair. It turned out Americans didn’t like being called racists and liked multi-millionaire players disrespecting the National Anthem to push boutique leftist ideology even less. Viewership, particularly among Republicans, dropped dramatically and so did NFL merchandise sales.

NFL owners, always concerned about the bottom line, slowly began to respond. Not because they much cared about America, patriotism or NFL fans, but because it was beginning to cost them a lot of money. And gradually, kneeling ended, at least in part because even some players suffering from serial concussions began to realize what they were doing was stupid and made them look like anti-American useful idiots.

To be fair, a number of players were able, early on, to say: “this is wrong.”  But as a whole, the NFL only grudgingly returned to near-normal: 

Ratings for the NFL declined precipitously in 2016 and 2017, ultimately leading to double-digit declines. 

There were people within the sports media who pushed back on the notion the declines were a response to Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players kneeling before the national anthem, purportedly in protest of the relationship between police officers and minority Americans.

They were wrong.

A new study from Morning Consult all but confirms politics was responsible for the decline. Specifically, a significant number of Republicans stopped watching the NFL in 2016 and 2017 but have since slowly returned (as kneeling has come to an end).

Heading into the Super Bowl, the NFL finally regained the favorability that it lost among Republicans nearly 10 years ago.

“Near-normal” and heading back downhill. For the upcoming Super Bowl half-time show, the NFL has chosen—wait for it—Bad Bunny.

Graphic: X Post

No. I had no idea who that was either. Now we know Bad Bunny is a hairy, bearded, tattooed, nose-ringed, dress-wearing Puerto Rican rapper. OK. So he/she/whatever is bad.  Is they/them a friendly bunny?  Nope:  

Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny addressed the backlash the NFL has been receiving after it was announced that he’d be the halftime performer at the upcoming Super Bowl, saying anyone unhappy with it should just learn Spanish.

Many people reacted negatively to the 31-year-old recording artist headlining the event, as they noted that, first and foremost, none of his songs were in English.

One would think the NFL, which might be aware of the current near-civil war over illegal immigration, particularly since most illegals speak Spanish, would think that kind of arrogant posing rather, well, insulting and even anti-American. But then again, the NFL has nearly a decade of experience at insulting Americans, who by a strange coincidence are the same people providing the NFL’s billions.

Graphic: X Post

Surely Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner learned from the kneeling debacle?  Not so much:

“It’s carefully thought through,” Goodell said while defending the league’s decision. “I’m not sure we’ve ever selected an artist where we didn’t have some blowback or criticism. It’s pretty hard to do when you have literally hundreds of millions of people that are watching… We’re confident it’s going to be a great show. He understands the platform that he’s on, and I think it’s going to be exciting and a united moment.”

Saying Americans should learn Spanish for his show indicates he understands the platform well enough to urinate all over it.

Goodell added, “He’s one of the leading and most popular entertainers in the world. That’s what we try to achieve. It’s an important stage for us. It’s an important element to the entertainment value.”

Surely Bad Bunny wouldn’t be as anti-America as he seems? Read on. He refuses to play in the US: 

"But there was the issue of, like, f---ing ICE could be outside [my concert]. And it’s something that we were talking about and very concerned about," he told i-D.

Bad Bunny also recorded and posted video of what he described as local ICE raids to social media in Puerto Rico.

"Look, those motherf------s are in these cars, RAV-4s. They’re here in Pontezuela," he said in Spanish, mentioning ICE working on the Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, a city east of Puerto Rico’s capital, San Juan.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem isn’t impressed:

When podcast host Benny Johnson asked her thoughts on the NFL selecting a performer who is anti-ICE and has expressed fear of touring in the U.S. due to immigration enforcement from the department she oversees, she confirmed that ICE will be “all over” the Super Bowl. As for the NFL, Noem said “they suck” and are “weak.”

Perhaps, but the NFL apparently thinks Americans addicts who will bear any insult so long as multi-millionaire players, who often commit felonies, take the field. The sad thing is, the NFL might be right.

Become a subscriber and get our weekly, Friday newsletter with unique content from our editors. These essays alone are worth the cost of the subscription. 

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.