Video game company Electronic Arts has denied that it intentionally censored Colin Kaepernick‘s name from a Big Sean verse it licensed for the new video game Madden NFL 19. In the song “Big Bank” by YG, Sean raps, “Feed me to the wolves, now I lead the pack and shit. You boys all cap, I’m more Colin Kaepernick.” After users noticed that the player’s name had been cut from the verse, EA released a statement on Thursday night apologizing for the incident.
“We made an unfortunate mistake with our Madden NFL soundtrack,” EA said. “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.”
Sean weighed in on Twitter, writing, “It’s disappointing and appalling @NFL & @EA took @Kaepernick7’s name out of my verse on Big Bank for Madden 19, like it was a curse word. When he’s not a curse, he’s a gift! Nobody from my team approved any of this.”
“Much love brother!” responded Kaepernick. “Thank you for having my back!”
