Chiefs Boo Moment of Unity: Due to the ongoing protests on racial inequality, the NFL has responded by playing the Black National Anthem before kickoff during Week 1.
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The NFL is trying to be seen as a supporter for racial equality, despite fumbling such topics before. However, this is being met with backlash from fans with some of them even booing at players and coaches.
Is this a cause of worry for the league?
Week 1 started off with some mixed reviews about how the league is handling racism. The NFL declared that it will play the Black National Anthem during Week 1 in support of racial equality. While some see this as an opportunity to promote racial equality, others see it as a political gimmick.
Fans even started to boo when the Chiefs and Texans lined up for the Black National Anthem.
Actual start of video pic.twitter.com/1PKDRxtwcx
— Josh Stockman (@darkkightinMO) September 11, 2020
Players’ reaction to the booing
Texans defensive end J.J. Watt has commented on the booing when the teams lined up for the anthem.
Texans DE J.J. Watt, as part of an answer about the moment of unity. “The booing was unfortunate during that moment — I don’t fully understand that, there was no flag involved, there was nothing involved in that other than two teams coming together to show unity.”
— Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 11, 2020
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes also commented on the situation as well, with him stating that he didn’t hear a lot of booing.
Mahomes: “Being down there, I honestly didn’t hear a lot of booing; I’ve seen a little bit of the videos after. We wanted to show unity & show we were going to come together and fight the good fight & we hope our fans will support us like they do in the game every single day.”
— Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 11, 2020
Coaches’ reaction
The Texans’ head coach, Bill O’ Brien stated that he didn’t hear any booing while lining up. Similarly, Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid didn’t acknowledge that booing was present.
Like O’Brien, Chiefs coach Andy Reid says he didn’t notice any booing either, but he thought “it was a neat deal” to see “both sides coming together for the cause” during the moment of unity.
— Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) September 11, 2020
Did fans actually start booing?
Among the around 16,000 fans in attendance, a lot of them did contest to booing. Some fans said that they didn’t hear any booing while others were pointing out that fans may have been shouting “CHIIIEEFFS”- a common tradition of Chiefs’ fans.
Some said that fans may have booed the Texans for coming out to the field late for the moment of unity.
Also Read: NFL Rating Down 2020
Will this affect viewership and ratings?
We still can’t determine one game’s fan experience. The season is still ongoing and far from over. With some stadiums allowing in-game attendance, we have to see if similar situations above will take place. As for now, we can see the NFL season is underway, and that most of us are thrilled about it.
