The NFL, the country's most successful and popular professional league, celebrated Juneteenth on social media by reposting some teams' recognition of the day.The NFL acknowledged Juneteenth after declining to do so with Pride Month at its June 1 kickoff or at any point since.Said another way, Pride Month's June 1 start came and went and the NFL's X account that serves over 36 million followers and its Instagram account that serves 32 million followers did not mention the event.A message about the Juneteenth holiday is displayed on the videoboard during a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres in San Francisco on June 19, 2023.
(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)THE NFL'S MAIN SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS REMAINED SILENT ABOUT PRIDE MONTH ON ITS FIRST DAYThere was another contrast in that all the NFL's 32 franchises except for one acknowledged Juneteenth.When Pride Month began, multiple individual NFL clubs declined to celebrate.The NFL teams that didn't celebrate the start of Pride Month included the New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints.Most of those did not celebrate Pride Month last year, either.The one NFL team that did not acknowledge Juneteenth on Friday was the Detroit Lions.This is a weird one.
The Lions are not typically a team that flies counter to recognizing social justice causes.Indeed, the club changed its logo during Pride Month by painting its lion in rainbow colors as a tip of the proverbial cap to the LGBTQ community.But it didn't do anything on a day many Black Americans recognize as important to their history and culture.The Lions weren't the only sports team or league that, for whatever reason, didn't recognize Juneteenth.
The NHL social media accounts were silent about Juneteenth on Friday and that makes the NHL the only major sports league that did not recognize the holiday because the NBA and MLB joi...