NFL teams shun Pride Month as tide turns on woke under Donald Trump

The NFL has appeared to have shunned Pride Month in the latest corporate heel-turn on woke culture in America.

As Pride Month kicked off on June 1, NFL's X account, with over 36 million followers, and its Instagram account, with over 32 million followers, did not mention the event.

In previous years, the NFL's official accounts had posted that "football is for everyone" and messages of "happy pride".

Nine of the league's 32 NFL teams also did not post on June 1.

These included the New York Jets, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Tennessee Titans, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, and New Orleans Saints.

Most of those teams chose not to recognise Pride Month on Monday last year.

The NFL's X account did choose to retweet a select number of Pride Month posts from its respective teams.

These include messages from teams the New York Giants, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, and Carolina Panthers.

The football league has a Pride page listed on its website, but it does not appear to have been updated for nearly three years.

Events highlighted on the page include an October 2023 "drag brunch" hosted by the San Francisco 49ers, a partnership with the Los Angeles Pride Parage, and a "Night of Pride", hosted by charity Glaad.

Other major American sports leagues - namely Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League did choose to recognise Pride Month on social media.

MLB posted a message which said: "From the bleachers to the ballfield and everywhere in between… Baseball is for everyone."

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And the NBA retweeted a post from its NBA Cares account - the corporate social responsibility wing of the company.

The NHL changed its X profile picture to a Rainbow-coloured version of its logo, but within a day changed it to a metallic image of the Stanley Cup.

In 2023, the NHL banned Pride-themed tape on hockey sticks, before reversing the ban in October 2023.

Donald Trump has called for sports teams, such as the NFL's Washington Commanders, to revert to their pre-2020 name - the Redskins.

In 2025, he said there was a "big clamouring" for the "Washington Whatevers" to change back.

The football team changed their name in 2020 amid Black Lives Matters protest - briefly playing as the "Washington Football Team" - before rebranding as the Commanders in 2022.

He had suggested he would block the Commanders' deal for a new stadium unless the team changed their name in July, but the deal was eventually approved in August without a name change.

The President had previously also suggested the baseball team the Cleveland Guardians revert to its former name as the Indians, saying "MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)".