The NFL fined 49ers DE Nick Bosa $11,255 for wearing a hat with the message “Make America Great Again” during a postgame interviewGetty Images
The NFL “deliberately” waited until the 2024 Presidential Election had passed before fining 49ers DE Nick Bosa $11,255 for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat during an interview, according to sources cited by Andrew Beaton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. On Oct. 27, Bosa wore the hat during a postgame interview, a “clear violation” of NFL rules that prevent players from displaying messages on the field. The timing of Bosa’s gesture placed the league into a “thorny situation,” since any punishment could have been “perceived as a statement against” now-President-elect Donald Trump during the presidential race’s final days, even if wearing a message supporting VP Kamala Harris would also have been against the rules. Trump has not been shy about attacking the NFL and its players to “rile up his supporters,” no attacks more prominent than those against former NFLer Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem in 2016. Though that fight has died down, Trump has shown he is “still willing to criticize the NFL.” Even one day before the election, he had been “attacking the league’s new kickoff rule” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/12).
