Dance Dance … retribution?
The “NFL on CBS” X account edited out tight end Brock Bowers’ Trump-shuffle touchdown celebration Sunday, OutKick reports.
On the televised game broadcast, fans saw the score, then Bowers’ celebration, then Raiders owner Mark Davis rejoicing in his box.
Bowers’ end zone moves were skipped over on NFL on CBS’s X post, though, with the video cutting directly from the touchdown to Davis in his suite at Hard Rock Stadium.
While it’s not clear if the editing choice was made deliberately or inadvertently, the decision is controversial in light of a snafu that occurred in the locker room following the game — a 34-19 loss to Miami that dropped the Raiders to 2-8.
When USA Today’s Safid Deen asked the 21-year-old about his dance moves, Bowers responded, “I’ve seen everyone do it … I watched the UFC fight last night and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC so I saw it, and thought it was cool.”
US president elect Donald Trump attends a a UFC event at Madison Square Garden. Jones did the “Trump-dance” earlier in the evening. Stephen Yang
According to Deen, the Raiders’ public relations team ended Bowers’ availability after that question and answer.
Later in the afternoon, the Raiders posted a postgame media compilation to its YouTube channel featuring interviews with Maxx Crosby, Jackson Powers-Johnson and Michael Mayer — the Raiders’ other tight end, who had one catch in Sunday’s contest.
Bowers’ omission was puzzling considering that he was fresh off the best game of his young career.
The rookie had set personal bests in targets (16), receptions (13) and yards (126). His 23-yard touchdown in the third quarter — the catch that preceded the dance — was his third score of the season.
President-elect Donald Trump’s imprint on the 2024 season has been Swift-esque, and Sunday’s controversy was not the first to ensnare one of the league’s more popular players.
As the Post previously reported, the NFL purposely delayed punishing Nick Bosa for wearing a MAGA hat until after the election.
Bosa also unveiled a Trump dance following a Week 10 sack against the Buccaneers,