The NFL, which is making headlines for cracking down on finger gun gestures, just hired singer Machine Gun Kelly to do the halftime show for the league’s international game.
The NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero posted to X:
The announcement that Machine Gun Kelly will headline comes after an NFL crackdown that has seen numerous unsportsmanlike-conduct penalties for players allegedly making the shape of a gun with their fingers.
The crackdown drew the ire of Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce, who mocked the NFL’s position. The Daily Mail quoted Kelce describing it as “absolutely ridiculous” when a guy gets a penalty for being “on the ground…pointing fingers for getting a first down saying, ‘We’re going that way,’ or whatever he might be doing.”
FOX News reported that Kelce added, “I know we don’t want this to be like ‘Oh, NFL players shooting guns’ — I get that. But this is so subtle. Unless you’re doing it at a defender, it shouldn’t be a flag.”
Yet the NFL’s position on the matter was cemented on October 15, 2024, when league exec Troy Vincent stressed there is “no place in professional football for” finger gun gestures.
Now the NFL has hired a guy with the words “machine gun” in his name to do their international halftime show.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a Pulsar Night Vision pro-staffer, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly: awrhawkins@breitbart.com.