NFL to let teams decide on Charlie Kirk tributes after mandating moment of silence in recent game
The NFL distributed a message on Friday addressing a latest tribute to Charlie Kirk ahead of its most of latest meeting and declared teams will be left to make their own decisions about whether to follow suit this Sunday Thursday night's encounter between the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders featured a moment of silence in honor of Kirk before kick-off Last night s moment was the league s decision It s up to the clubs for this Sunday s games the league's message read per multiple reports CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMThe announcement further addressed the context of the tribute comparing it to other moments of silence following tragedies There have been moments following school shootings or an attack on a house of worship such as the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in There also have been moments following major international incidents such as Hamas attack on Israel in October and weather-related incidents such as major hurricanes and fires the comment continued This is in addition to honoring those in the NFL family from tributes to lately passed players or personnel or a member such as Damar Hamlin in The NFL also honored before Super Bowl LIV NBA star Kobe Bryant and the other casualties of the helicopter crash Gianna Bryant Sarah and Payton Chester Christina Mauser Ara Zobayan and also Pro Football Hall of Famer Chris Doleman who passed that week The league made reference to sweeping changes to field and pre-game protocols following the death of George Floyd in and moments of silence following other tragedies in the past calendar year TIMELINE OF CHARLIE KIRK ASSASSINATION Lift Every Voice and Sing has been performed at league events since following the murder of George Floyd and the events of the summer of including last Thursday during the Kickoff encounter in Philadelphia It is also performed before the Super Bowl the announcement continued This summer before the Hall of Fame event in Canton the league honored the sufferers and those impacted by the attack at Park Avenue During Week games last season the NFL honored the casualties of the Bourbon Street terrorist attack Also that season the NFL held a moment to recognize those lost in the deadly crashes near Washington D C and Philadelphia and also prior to the Vikings-Rams Wild Card contest that was moved from LA to Arizona due to the wildfires At least one NFL organization has already made it a point to fire an employee who made insensitive comments after Kirk's assassination The Carolina Panthers fired Charlie Rock a member of the group s communications department after social media posts linked to Rock appeared to show him questioning why people were sad that Kirk had been shot and killed The views expressed by our employees are their own and do not represent those of the Carolina Panthers the organization commented in a declaration posted to social media We do not condone violence of any kind We are taking this matter very seriously and have accordingly addressed it with the individual Elsewhere in American sports the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs each held a moment of silence ahead of contemporary games to honor Kirk following the assassination on Wednesday Meanwhile MLB has instructed all teams to at the very least keep all American flags at half-staff throughout the weekend in honor of Kirk MLB questioned all of the Clubs to follow the direction of the White House Presidential Proclamation and fly flags at half-staff in their ballparks an MLB spokesperson reported Fox News Digital The NHL NBA and WNBA have made no official statements addressing Kirk's assassination Fox News Digital has reached out to all three leagues to ask if they would but has not received a response Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter
