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Twitter users are raging at NFL for allegedly releasing a pride logo for pride month, 2023. Users are responding to viral tweets, showcasing a rainbow-colored National Football League logo surrounded by rainbow-colored logos of all league teams. However, this is false as the league has not released any pride logo for the current year, at the time of writing.
The Twitter outcry seems to have stemmed from an array of Tweets by Twitter celebrities that went viral. Oli London posted a picture of the league logo, surrounded by all the team logos, painted in rainbow colors. on Sunday, May 28. The caption to his tweet read, "NFL's New Logo (Pride flag emote)". This tweet received over 445 thousand views.
Earlier in the day, TV Host, Heather Gardner tweeted the same image, albeit full size, along with the caption, "Sorry Republicans...No more football for you". The viral tweet amassed over 3.3 million views.
The logo that Twitter users claim, is the National Football League's new logo, was actually released by the league itself, but it was released two years ago. The logo was released in an Instagram post dated June 1, 2021. The logo, which was referred to as the "New NFL Pride shield", was released to show the league's support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Twitter assumed that the logo was released this year and went full throttle against the National Football League. Some claimed that football was over while others thought it was time to boycott sports.
"It makes no sense for people to be upset at the league": Former NFL Linebacker
NFL's pride logo unveiling in 2021 brought in a lot of support for the football league. Support that was minuscule in comparison to the amount of backlash it brought in. The moment the logo was unveiled, social media was quick to get on its case.
Users ranted about what pride month had to do with football and about how politics needed to be kept away from the sport. Along with the rants, came jokes. Rival fans bantered each other by saying that the logo fit so and so teams perfectly. This was said with the assumption that the rainbow logo represented something to be embarrassed about.
Among the backlash and jokes, were a few people that actually supported the move. The extreme reaction of the online community, to the reveal of the logo, upset former National Football League players, Ryan O' Callaghan and Jeff Rohrer.
O' Callaghan who hid his sexuality during his playing days was completely in support of the league's decision. He said:
“I’m glad the NFL does it. Small gestures like that add up.”
The former New England Patriot added:
“A lot of people are going to say this is proof pro sports aren’t ready for gay athletes, but I think it’s proof the NFL is ready.”
Rohrer, a former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, who came out as gay in 2018, said that it made no sense for people to be upset:
"It makes no sense for people to be upset at the league for showing some pride and respect for the ex-players in the NFL who are gay.”
Later that month on June 28, 2021, the league released a video on Twitter, in support of The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that focuses on suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth.
The National Football League also donated $100,000 to the project.
