127.7 million people watched the Super Bowl in 2025. One of the reasons it was so popular was the halftime show, performed by Kendrick Lamar, which featured an unapologetic political message.
Overall, there is an unspoken rule that athletes and other sports organizations should keep personal political beliefs away from the field. The fear is that it will cause unnecessary arguments that have no place during a game. Although these concerns are valid, sporting events are the perfect place to make a political statement.
The 2016 BLM protests were a perfect example of people using their platform to bring awareness to an issue. During this time there seemed to be a spike in recorded police brutality. Many Black people had been murdered by police and outrage sparked as a result. To show solidarity with the victims of these attacks, many athletes, such as Colin Kaepernick, began kneeling during the national anthem to show their disagreement with the government’s lack of action.
This form of protest created a lot of division among viewers. A lot of people thought that all politics should be completely left out of sports, athletes shouldn’t declare a political position, and organizations and other attendees should show no affiliation with either side. However, when political statements are made at sports events, the amount of awareness about the issue that is being discussed is able to reach more people. A lot of the time when a very serious issue isn’t being talked about, it’s not that people don’t care about it, but rather no one knows about it. Kneeling at the football game created conversations which in turn brought more awareness to police brutality.
Despite the importance of these statements, many political actions have been censored by those in charge of sporting events. For example, signs that were placed in the endzone of the Super Bowl field that said ‘End Racism’ were recently removed for this year’s Super Bowl. In another instance, a protester who was seen waving both a Palestinian and Sudanese flag during the halftime show was not only quickly removed, but this action was not shown on TV. To make matters worse, said protester was even permanently banned from the stadium.
In a time where there is an increase of political tension, these demonstrations are vital to help spread awareness to issues people aren’t educated about. Players and organizations are their own people and should not have to stay quiet about what they believe in.
Arguments about different political affiliations shouldn’t be avoided. At this time, different views no longer mean disagreements over which policies will best benefit the country. Instead, people are fighting against the government every day for their rights. Having these arguments allows for people’s true beliefs to be heard. These include beliefs on race, sexuality, or gender that are often hidden under “politics,” even though they are really restrictions on basic human rights.
