Editing and censoring songs isn't an unusual thing when it comes to licensed tracks in video games. However, unlike other songs that will remove curse words or other offensive words, this censoring removed a line about Colin Kaepernick from the song.
This censoring looks like it was noticed first by Twitter user @jeanclervil early this morning.
For reference, the lyric should read:
You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick
Big Sean took notice of this bizarre omission early this evening.
Kaepernick has made headlines for a number of months now after he took a knee during the national anthem back in August 2016. Kaepernick has publicly stated that the reason he took the knee was in an effort to protest against racial injustices and police brutality. It was not, as some liars may try to claim, an attempt to "disrespect our heritage."
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," Kaepernick told NFL Media in an exclusive interview after the game. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
Going back to today's unusual discovery, EA finally issued a response. An EA representative told Gamasutra that the song was censored due to a misunderstanding. The line will be added back in the near future.
“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.”
However, it still isn't exactly clear why EA would not have the rights to use Kaepernick's name in their game, be it in a song or otherwise. This is especially perplexing given that he should still be a part of the NFLPA.
