The election campaigning is peaking. And so are the attempts to misrepresent. The latest one to fall prey to such counterfeit campaigns is the Philadelphia Eagles. Some billboard photos of the Eagles circulated on social media that showed them promoting Kamala Harris. After that, fans started criticizing the club for spreading political views. However, the club has responded quickly to those viral photos.

Replying to comments on X (formerly Twitter), the club wrote, “We are aware counterfeit political ads are being circulated and are working with our advertising partner to have them removed.” After denying those biased photos, many fans were relieved and told the club to focus on sports and not to get themselves involved with politics.

The issue started when an Eagles fan page on X posted the photos. Fan reactions were mixed. While some claimed this was a fake post, few fans requested to keep sports and politics different. One fan called it the work of a prankster. But the backlash was more daunting. Many fans wrote they would boycott the team and not watch its games this season.

Sensing the urgency, the franchise immediately denied its involvement. But many fans are still not convinced. The question is who authorized the ads? Few people even claimed that this is not a mistake, it is election interference. As the season progresses, the elections will become more divisive. And no team would want to get caught between the two ideologies.

However, the Eagles don’t have a pleasant history with Donald Trump, Kamala Harris’s rival.

When the Philadelphia Eagles players and Trump were at loggerheads

In 2018, the Eagles won the Super Bowl LII. As per the ongoing annual tradition, then-president Donald Trump invited the locker room for an event on Jun 5 that year. But some players, including safety Malcolm Jenkins and receiver Torrey Smith, criticized the President. Smith didn’t hold back in Trump’s criticism and said, “If I told you that I was invited to a party by an individual I believe is sexist or has no respect for women, or I told you that this individual has said offensive things toward many minority groups. You would understand why I wouldn’t want to go to that party. Why is it any different when the person has title of president of the United States?” But his outburst wasn’t sudden.

A few months before the Super Bowl, Trump openly criticized the league for allowing players to kneel during the national anthem. When the league passed a new rule, allowing players in locker room to stay in the locker room, the president again fired back at the league, saying that those players should not be in the country. This might have angered a few players (of the Philadelphia Eagles) who also didn’t accept the White House invite. He then canceled the event and hosted an alternate event in which the national anthem was played. Is the franchise trying to avenge their disrespect? Whatever, it is the team for now has distanced itself completely from the ad campaign.

Afterall, mixing sports with politics can have distracting effects. Their highly anticipated season opener against the Green Bay Packers is already facing controversies. This political drama might add to the long list of worries for the franchise.