Should NFL Cancel Game In Brazil Over Free Speech Crackdown?

It's easy to forget how little protection there is for free speech around the world. Especially in countries like Brazil, where one Supreme Court justice can effectively take over making and enforcing laws at will.

That's exactly what Alexandre de Moraes, the Brazilian minister of the Supreme Federal Court, has done during his tenure, culminating in his recent unilateral ruling banning X (formerly Twitter) across Brazil and imposing heavy fines for anyone found using the app. All of this stems from de Moraes' disagreement with Elon Musk, his extreme, anti-free speech views, and willingness to use authoritarian measures to enforce his will.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr posted about de Moraes' decision on X, explaining that it's specifically designed to attack free speech. "Nonetheless, de Morea argues that free speech on X cannot be allowed to continue because the diversity of political opinions expressed on the site might influence the people of Brazil ahead of their 2024 elections," Carr explains. "See op. at 31-32. In other words, de Morea is arguing that free speech is a threat to democracy—a position that is as Orwellian as it is dangerous."

With the broad support of left-wing groups and media members, a Brazilian justice has unilaterally decided that he has control over what information the public should be allowed to see. Surprisingly enough, he's decided that anything that contradicts his views should not be allowed.

This is inherently anti-American, despite its increasing popularity among the American left as well. So why is the most American of sports playing a game in Brazil next week?

OutKick founder Clay Travis pointed out that the NFL, though it would never actually do it, should cancel its upcoming game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers in Brazil next Friday. Incredibly, under de Moraes' interpretation, "teams and players won't be able to tweet from Brazil."

Would the NFL ever take such a step?

Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter Elon Musk. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)

NFL Only Supports Easy, Left-Wing Causes

The NFL happily lends its support to any number of generic left-wing causes or eye-rolling on field or pregame messages. Because it's easy. 

The league has a monopoly, thanks to the increase in sports betting, fantasy football, and a jaw-dropping campaign to act like four yards per play, four scoring plays per game and 65 minutes of commercials is entertainment. Conservatives will never abandon football, but the NFL can appeal to the left as well with a path of least resistance activism.

Free speech has become a right-wing issue; the left, internationally and domestically, has made censorship of its political opponents a central part of its ideological platform. The NFL taking a principled stand against the extremism of a left-wing Brazilian judge is antithetical to how the league operates.

Similarly to how Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star Game out of Atlanta thanks to misinformation from liberal political activists, sports leagues only listen to one side of the political aisle. And that side has no problem with authoritarianism to "save democracy."

It's a near-guarantee then, that the NFL has no problem with it either.