The National Football League issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, sternly reminding the federal agency that unauthorized broadcasts of copyrighted football violence will not be tolerated.
The National Football League issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, sternly reminding the federal agency that comparing the physical assault of migrants to Brian Dawkins’ career highlights requires the express written consent of the NFL.
The controversy stems from a DHS social media post that spliced footage of the Hall of Fame safety delivering concussive blows to defenseless receivers with clips of immigration agents violently tackling border crossers. League officials in New York were reportedly appalled to see premium NFL intellectual property distributed on a government channel without a proper licensing agreement in place, noting that the broadcast rights to high-velocity collisions are currently locked up in a $110 billion media package with CBS, Fox, and Amazon.
The National Football League is deeply committed to the commercial packaging of devastating physical trauma, and we will not allow any federal agency to give that premium content away for free.
The league office further noted that while it is always exploring new civic-partnership opportunities, the current collective bargaining agreement prevents the unauthorized use of a player's likeness to promote unsanctioned, unbranded violence. Sources close to the front office indicated that the NFL would be willing to revisit the matter if DHS agreed to upgrade to official sponsor status, which would legally designate the agency as the Official Deportation Partner of the National Football League and allow them to feature John Lynch highlights in their base marketing tier.
At press time, DHS was reportedly reaching out to the league office of the NHL to see if a montage of unprovoked border patrol hits could be legally set to Scott Stevens open-ice highlights before the start of free agency.