The 59th Super Bowl was marked by some interesting characteristics. Perhaps the most notable of them all being the attendance of President Donald Trump, that makes him the first sitting president to ever attend a Super Bowl. President Trump’s presence at the Super Bowl is not all sunshine and rainbows. Many are noticing the correlation between his attendance and the National Football League’s decision to roll back on their own set of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on their endzone.
The NFL first started using the endzone lettering in 2020 in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed. After releasing a statement claiming that the NFL “condemn[s] racism and the systematic oppression of Black people,” the phrase “end racism” was added for the 2020 season. It quickly became a staple within endzones and has been included in all four Super Bowls since the 2020 season.
During the advent of the 2025 Super Bowl, the NFL officially announced that they would be replacing the endzone lettering from “end racism” with the phrase “choose love.” To many, this change in endzone lettering seems trivial. To others the issue lies in the underlying motivations for changing the phrasing. With the inauguration of Trump, attacks on DEI policies have become the norm. Companies — such as Pepsi, Disney, GM and now allegedly the NFL — have been rolling back their DEI initiatives under the Trump administration. While the lettering being changed may not be significant at face value, many people have inferred that the reason behind the change was motivated by Trump’s attendance.
“Actions speak louder than words” is a phrase many have heard and one that may hold importance regarding this topic. The Commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodel, released a statement explaining that the changes at the end zone were made in response to the wildfires in Los Angeles and were not influenced at all by Trump’s presidency. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy credited the change as a result of “wild fires in southern California, the terrorist attack here in New Orleans, the plane and helicopter crash near our nation’s capital and the plane crash in Philadelphia.”
Some fans however disagree and hold the NFL accountable to their original commitment to DEI policies, seeing the phrase change as an attack on inclusionary culture within the NFL. Keen eyed viewers have argued that the original phrasing was put into place solely as an apology for the NFL’s poor response to Colin Kaepernick, a former 49’ers quarterback turned civil rights activist, and in response to the events occurring during 2020.
Alongside the previous statement, Goodell said that the league’s DEI policies are not in any type of conflict with the federal government, stating that current inclusionary policies such as the Rooney Rule — a rule that aims for diversity in coaching positions — will remain in effect alongside any new DEI policies that the NFL may institute in the future.
Multimillion dollar corporations such as the NFL need to be held accountable for their actions; the culture of lies and manipulation needs to be addressed, and the first step towards addressing it stems from seeking an unbiased education about current events. Whether it makes itself apparent or not, the politicization of culture within the U.S. can oftentimes be found within one’s home. The strongest defense against the politicization of culture is to hold political awareness. Throw those rose colored glasses away and form an opinion based on both sides of an issue; subscription to a doctrine is never the answer.
