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MSNBC’s Joy Reid heavily criticized the NFL for what she considers attempts to "sanitize Blackness" from the Super Bowl.
Monday’s "The ReidOut" opened with comments surrounding rapper Eminem choosing to kneel during his halftime performance in reference to player Colin Kaepernick. Although Reid and her panel of guests appreciated the "disruptive" behavior, they still insisted that the NFL is strangling forms of "Blackness."
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Joy Reid (Theo Wargo/Getty Images Ms. Foundation for Women)
"The NFL has always tried to sanitize Blackness, especially during the Super Bowl, from the halftime performances to players taking a knee, and it especially does not want to dabble in the culture wars now and tick off the conservative fan base," Reid said.
"Which explains why Kendrick Lamar’s line ‘and we hate the popo’ was noticeably scrubbed last night," guest Jason Johnson fired back.
"Don’t think we didn’t notice," Reid added.
Reid also insisted that the NFL was "surprised" by Eminem’s choice to kneel despite the organization stating that it was made "aware" of his stunt and any claim otherwise was "erroneous."
She added that she has since "fell out of love" with football due to allegations of racism.
Eminem (Getty Images )
"I fell out of love with the game because it just became very clear that this was a sport with a lot of Black people in it but not Black people with power. No coaches, very few people allowed to get into the quarterback spot. And that coach thing really hurts my spirit, and it’s difficult for me to love the game. Anything that these guys do that is disruptive, I’m for it," Reid said.
Columnist Michael Harriot also criticized the NFL as well as Eminem for protesting for the Black movement while the protest "meant nothing."
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"He successfully got applause for doing something that meant nothing, and I think that’s kind of like the epitome of what the NFL has become. They scrawled ‘end racism’ in the end zone, but they will kick Black people out of the league for talking about or pointing at the problem that racism gives America, right? So I think he did it, but it doesn’t mean anything. It’s too late now," Harriot said.
In light of conservative criticism, Reid maintained that "sports has always been political" and the NFL continues to ignore Black issues in spite of 70% of NFL players being Black.
Podcaster Bomani Jones closed the segment commenting, "That’s the story of American racism. It is in spite of good sense and even in spite of your potential to profit."