NFL Says There’s ‘No Issue’ With Players Doing ‘Trump Dance’

The NFL will not crack down on players doing the “Trump Dance,” Front Office Sports has learned.

The league has “no issue” with the “Donald Dance” performed as an on-field celebration by Brock Bowers of the Raiders, Calvin Ridley of the Titans, Za’Darius Smith of the Lions, and other players this weekend, league spokesman Brian McCarthy told me Monday night. The league is also not issuing any directives to TV partners Fox Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports, NBC Sports and Amazon Prime Video on how, or if, they should cover players performing President-elect Donald Trump’s signature shimmy after a touchdown or big play. 

“There’s no issue with a celebratory dance such as what took place yesterday or the previous week with the 49ers on November 10,” said McCarthy [no relation]. As for TV coverage, he adds, “It’s up to the networks to cover them as they see fit.”

The NFL rule book allows for player celebrations—as long as they’re not excessive or feature violent or sexually suggestive acts. But players can get in trouble for wearing printed hats and T-shirts that tout their political and personal opinions. 49ers star Nick Bosa, for example, was fined $11,255 not for doing the Trump dance after a sack (he did) but for wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on the field. Bosa’s MAGA hat violated the league’s uniform/equipment rules because it bore a “personal” statement. 

NFL players performing the dance that CNN says is taking the “sports world by storm” indicates a shift from eight years ago, when 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick inspired virtually the entire league to take a knee to support social justice. That led the NFL to add end-zone stencils with messages such as “End Racism.”

Former Bears star Brian Urlacher said “silent Trump supporters” feel emboldened after his election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris on Nov. 5. The viral Donald dance was also adopted by UFC champ Jon Jones after his win at UFC 309 on Saturday night and soccer star Christian Pulisic during the U.S. men’s team’s win over Jamaica on Monday night. 

“People were scared for a while. You don’t want people to talk bad about you. You know how we’ve been talked about the last four years if you’re a Donald Trump supporter,” Urlacher said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. “But I think now, no one’s scared anymore. It’s nice to see these guys coming out.”

Tom Jones, senior media writer at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, agrees with the league’s call not to crack down on Trump dancers.

“I don’t see how the NFL could stop these Trump-dance celebrations. Like any celebration, as long as it’s not significantly disrupting the game, the NFL should allow it,” Jones told me. “If you were to stop this celebration, you would seemingly have to ban all celebrations. I’m sure the NFL isn’t crazy about celebrations with a political bent, but putting a ban on them would open up a whole other set of problems. My guess is it’s all just a fad that is going to fade pretty quickly anyway. The NFL is probably thinking that, too.”

The NFL’s on-the-record comments should put to rest rumors the league plans to “ban” the Trump dance—or order TV networks not to show it. The country’s most popular sports league can’t be seen taking sides politically against an incoming president. Especially since Trump made the NFL—and protesting players—a public target during his first administration. Back in 2017, the then-president called for NFL owners to cut players taking a knee when the U.S. national anthem played.

“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when someone disrespects our flag to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now.’ Out. He’s fired. He’s fired,” thundered Trump to cheers from supporters. 

Trump’s NFL-bashing back then may have contributed to the league’s respective 8% and 10% drops in viewers during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.