"Ahead of the September 28 National Football League game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings in Dublin, social justice campaigners invited me to cross the Atlantic to speak about the politics of the NFL. The plan was to screen a 2022 documentary that I helped produce called Behind the Shield, which is critical of the league and its leadership. Organizers would also arrange a series of media events about the film and the upcoming game."
"I was told to take a Sharpie and write an attorney's phone number on my arm like folks do when preparing for an act of civil disobedience and arrest. It frankly seemed a little over-the-top. Were thought crimes against the NFL now a state matter? Maybe? Certainly the GOP has morphed from self-proclaimed "free speech warriors" to cancel-culture kings, eager to criminalize any criticism of Trump or his allies."
Social justice campaigners planned a Dublin screening of the 2022 documentary Behind the Shield, alongside media events tied to the Pittsburgh Steelers–Minnesota Vikings game. The screening intended to warn Irish audiences about the NFL's corporate and political agenda and the league's local footprint. Advisers urged travel caution due to the Trump administration's targeting of journalists and hostility toward the First Amendment. A precautionary recommendation included writing an attorney's phone number on one's arm in case of arrest. The GOP shifted from free-speech rhetoric to criminalizing criticism, and the NFL tolerated a divisive far-right figure while largely remaining passive.
Read at The Nation
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