August 23, 2019

Jay-Z Sells Out for the NFL?

On the verge of a new season, the NFL is trying a new corporate self-defense crouch.

On the verge of a new season, the NFL is trying a new corporate self-defense crouch. Its goal is to counteract criticism from the left that the NFL is insensitive to the Black Lives Matter crowd that urged NFL stars to kneel in disrespect of the national anthem. Those protests, which dramatically drove down NFL ratings and game attendance, came to a stop only when President Donald Trump called out the millionaire ingrates.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held a press event with gangsta rapper/mogul Jay-Z and announced Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation will take the lead in selecting the NFL’s live entertainment programming and advise on its “social justice” initiatives.

Jay-Z, also known by his birth name, Shawn Carter, once backed Colin Kaepernick’s crusade but now proclaims it’s yesterday’s news. “I think we’re past kneeling,” Jay-Z said.

It wasn’t hard to predict that the nation’s enlightened — or, to use that obnoxious word, “woke” — sports writers were going to erupt volcanically over this deal. Jemele Hill, the sidelined ESPN lecturer, summed it up for The Atlantic: “Jay-Z has given the NFL exactly what it wanted: guilt-free access to black audiences, culture, entertainers, and influencers.”

Guilt is crucial for racial ambulance chasers. The man whose net worth tops the $1 billion mark by virtue of bad-boy anthems like “Big Pimpin’” is now the NFL’s Uncle Tom, selling his soul at the company store, working for the Man. This is fun to watch.

Our favorite leftist tantrum came from Hemal Jhaveri of USA Today under the headline “Jay-Z’s partnership with the NFL is just another reminder that capitalism always wins.” Wait a minute … Jhaveri wrote this for USA Today, which is about as entrenched as a capitalist company and media power could be. Does that make her a toady?

Jhaveri didn’t protest that evil capitalists subverted social consciousness when Nike signed Kaepernick to a deal worth tens of millions of dollars to hush talk of its Asian labor practices. But this was unpardonable. “While Jay-Z’s intentions may be good, this is about acknowledging the limits of how much progressive movements can achieve when they align themselves with entrenched systems of power.”

Memo to Jhaveri: There’s a reason Woodstock 2 was canceled. The ‘60s are over.

The lecture continued: “Free market capitalism works in many ways to control political dissent, but one of its most insidious forms is by making protest, the kind that requires real, significant sacrifice, into something that is not only unnecessary but feels beside the point.”

Capitalism is “controlling” dissent in the NFL’s case by bending over backward to pander to the “social justice” crowd … off the field. Football fans hate having the game ruined with political sideshows. And ESPN discovered fans don’t want socialist sermonizing as a badgering interruption of their sports highlights.

But the left never wants to leave the game of football alone. Athletes lecturing in press conferences or on cable TV isn’t enough. They want to get in America’s face and spur outrage on Sunday afternoon. They want to divide — and conquer. But they didn’t. The Kaepernick side has been trounced, and they can’t (and won’t) acknowledge that the war is over, just like some leftists will never acknowledge that the fight over the Redskins’ name is over.

This all makes sense. The left demands we have a never-ending “conversation” about how everything that’s ever caused America to succeed in the world is based on racist power structures. They can’t stand the idea of listening to a rebuttal from the other side.

COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.