The National Football League rejected an advertisement for Super Bowl LII from the nonprofit American Veterans (AMVETS) that featured the phrase “#PleaseStand.” NFL Vice President of Communications Brian McCarthy explained, “The Super Bowl program is designed for fans to commemorate and celebrate the game, players, teams and the Super Bowl. It has never been a place for advertising that could be considered by some as a political statement.” Huh, so allowing NFL players to kneel during the national anthem isn’t a “political statement?”

Joe Chenelly, the national director of AMVETS, said that he was “surprised and disappointed” by the NFL’s decision. “The NFL said it does not want to take a position on that. Really, by not letting us run an ad, we think they are taking a position,” he correctly observed. AMVETS National Commander Marion Polk noted, “Freedom of speech works both ways. We respect the rights of those who choose to protest, as these rights are precisely what our members have fought — and in many cases died — for. But imposing corporate censorship to deny that same right to those veterans who have secured it for us all is reprehensible.”

This is the same NFL that has allowed two years of disgraceful kneeling, did nothing to correct players’ false “hands up, don’t shoot” displays, and refused to let the Dallas Cowboys wear helmet stickers paying tribute to the five Dallas police officers who were ambushed and murdered in 2016 — a month before the kneeling protests began.

Once again the NFL has fumbled the PR ball, all over fears of offending the Left. Never mind the fact that the league’s viewership ratings dropped 10% this season alone. If this attitude from NFL leadership continues, the league can expect to continue to see ratings get sacked for a loss. Nobody likes a double standard.

(Updated.)