EA Sports has been slammed for censoring Colin Kaepernick's name out of a song on the soundtrack of their new 'Madden 19' NFL game.
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback is referenced by rapper YG's in the song 'Big Bank', which includes several other musicians, like Big Sean, 2 Chainz and Nicki Minaj.
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But in the game, the song cuts Big Sean's verse, where he says "You boys all cap, I'm more Colin Kaepernick”, as if it was profanity. His name is replaced with silence.
Kaepernick is currently involved in a collusion grievance with the NFL, arguing that the league's teams conspired to keep him unemployed, due to his kneeling protest against apparent racial inequality and police brutality.
Big Sean took to Twitter to voice his disapproval of his verse being censored.Kaepernick's girlfriend, Ness Diab, and NBA star Chris Paul also expressed their outrage over the track.
"It's disappointing and appalling @NFL & @EA took @Kaepernick7's name out of my verse on Big Bank for Madden 19, like it was curse word. When he's not a curse, he's a gift! Nobody from my team approved any of this," Big Sean tweeted.
EA Sports have since released a statement, apologising for the "mistake" and attributing it to a misunderstanding over the rights surrounding Kaepernick.
"We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack. Members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don't have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn't affect soundtracks.
"We messed up and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again.
“We meant no disrespect and we apologise to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake."
Newshub.
