Buzz Bulletin: Kaepernick Gets Bleeped

Madden NFL 19 comes out tomorrow, and it’s already made headlines before it even hits the shelves.

EA Sports found themselves under fire when it was discovered that Colin Kaepernick’s name had been bleeped out like a profanity on the game’s soundtrack.

In YG’s song “Big Bank,” the lyric in question says, “Feed me to the wolves now I lead the pack and s**t, you boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.” However, EA scrubbed Kap’s name out of the audio.

After backlash from fans, many of whom called for a boycott of the game, EA released the following mea culpa:

“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 NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again. We meant no disrespect, and we apologize to Colin, to YG and Big Sean, to the NFL, to all of their fans and our players for this mistake.”

The latest update to the game does include Kaepernick’s name on the track.

Deplorable

It’s hard to think of a time in recent history when pop culture, sports, and politics were as deeply intertwined as they currently are.

Case in point: the uproar that occurred last weekend when Donald Trump took an ill-advised potshot at Lebron James’ intelligence.

Behold the offending tweet in all its idiocy.

Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 4, 2018

This late-night outburst was in response to an interview with Lebron that had just aired on CNN, in which the four-time MVP expressed his belief that Trump is dividing the nation

Let’s sit back and let Twitter help us unpack this.

First of all, Mike likes Lebron:

Michael Jordan’s statement on Donald Trump’s tweet about LeBron James. pic.twitter.com/9kplP3vxwW
— Sporting News (@sportingnews) August 4, 2018

So does Melania:

Melania backs LeBron after Trump attack: He’s “working to do good things” https://t.co/8srVBAeGxn pic.twitter.com/opJhdN55uk
— The Hill (@thehill) August 5, 2018

CNN couldn’t resist:

Sounds like @FLOTUS had the remote last night. 📺 We hope you both saw the incredible work of @KingJames. #BeBest https://t.co/3Ok0z9Z6Ro
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 4, 2018

And here’s this stark contrast, just for fun:

Since Donald Trump recently questioned Lebron James’s intelligence, we decided to see how their two educational projects compared. It’s a close one … pic.twitter.com/6d9OV9Ha5Y
— Guardian US (@GuardianUS) August 7, 2018

Very stable genius, indeed.