'Fortnite' partners with the NFL and it's honestly kind of gross
America's biggest team sport, meet the world's biggest esport.
In a match that was bound to happen sooner or later, the NFL and Fortnitehave joined forces. It's not a full-blown seasonal theme, but starting on Nov. 9 at 7:00 p.m. ET, players will be able to buy NFL-themed outfits (i.e. team uniforms) from the in-game store.
All 32 NFL teams will be represented, along with a 33rd Fortnite-specific look. Players will also be able to choose which number appears on their jersey, from 0-99.
The video above suggests that other NFL-themed cosmetic goodies will be coming to Fortniteas well, but Epic's news announcement only mentions the jerseys.
SEE ALSO:That big purple cube in 'Fortnite' just exploded and everything's weird nowI'm sure fans of both sports will herald this as cool news, but there's something deeply wrong about this partnership to me.
On the one side there's Fortnite, an admittedly great game that has nonetheless faced (valid) accusations of committing cultural appropriation without giving credit where it's due. Many of the game's dances have their origins in music, and rap specifically.
That's been a long-running conversation with Fortnite, and Chance the Rapper articulated the issue clearly in a July tweet that led to even more conversation. Epic opted against commenting at the time, and I don't think it's been officially addressed since then.
Tweet may have been deleted
Then we have the NFL, a professional sports league that has actively worked (and continues to do so in many cases) to stop players from exercising their right to protest. Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kicked off a whole movement when he kneeled down during the pre-game National Anthem performance in an effort to bring attention to police brutality stemming from racial inequality in America.
Kaepernick has since been blacklisted from the league -- informally, at the very least -- but many other players have taken up the cause in his absence. Meanwhile, the league has tried to end those protests. Some teams (looking at you Dallas Cowboys and team owner Jerry Jones) have made it clear that protesting players will be cut.
With Fortnite and the NFL both, it's fundamentally about racism. Donald Trump's willful misreading of the protest has infected the discourse and led racists to rally behind the idea that player protests are about disrespecting the flag. Epic's non-address of the appropriation issue amounts to erasure; in not acknowledging the criticism, the company asserts a kind of ownership of something that others created.
I have no doubt that Fortnitex NFL will pay off for the two partners. But that's what makes it feel so scummy. Both have either ignored or actively worked against valid concerns raised by their customers, and now they're joining forces to milk their combined fandom.
I like Fortniteand I like NFL football. It's just tough to keep being a fan when the business interests in charge of these monolithic institutions don't act in a thoughtful and socially conscious manner.
They're businesses of course, and it's always going to be about the money; I guess I'd just like to think we live in a world, or canlive in a world, where there's a price to be paid for trying to keep the racists happy.
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