Feb. 4 (UPI) — For the first time in four years, Sunday’s Super Bowl will not feature the message “End Racism” at the back of one of the end zones after the National Football League revealed Tuesday it has shelved the phrase.
Instead, Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans — with the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Philadelphia Eagles — will feature the phrases “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us” behind each goal post, according to the NFL, as the White House also revealed President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend the game.
“The Super Bowl is often a snapshot in time and the NFL is in a unique position to capture and lift the imagination of the country,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement.
“‘Choose Love’ is appropriate to use as our country has endured in recent weeks wild fires in southern California, the terrorist attack here in New Orleans, the plane and helicopter crash near our nation’s capital, and the plane crash in Philadelphia,” McCarthy told The Athletic on Tuesday.
The messages “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us” appeared in the end zones for this year’s AFC Championship Game in Kansas City, while “End Racism” was the end-zone phrase at the NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia.
The message “End Racism” began appearing in NFL stadium end zones at the start of the 2020 season following a summer of protests in the United States over racial inequality and the death of George Floyd by a police officer.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the league’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies this week as Trump recently banned DEI programs throughout federal government.
“We got into diversity efforts because we felt like it was the right thing for the National Football League, and we’re going to continue those efforts because we’ve not only convinced ourselves, we’ve proven ourselves, that it does make the NFL better,” Goodell told reporters during Monday’s news conference.
“Our efforts are fundamental in trying to attract the best possible talent in the National Football league, both on and off the field, as I said previously,” Goodell added. “We see how it benefits the National Football League, and so I think we’ll continue those efforts.”
