Colts Take Down Schedule Video Amid Cancel Culture

Colts Apologize Over Animated Video Featuring Tyreek Hill

The Indianapolis Colts have issued an unexpected apology regarding a brief video that portrayed Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill as a cartoon dolphin.

In a nod to social media trends, the team opted to create unique videos for their schedule releases, tapping into the popular video game Minecraft for inspiration. For their matchup with the Dolphins, the Colts included a short clip referencing a 2024 incident involving Hill.

“I sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek,” the team stated.

This particular animation lasted just six seconds. It showed a pixelated dolphin in the water, captioned “hill,” and donned in a wide receiver jersey, as a Coast Guard boat approached, followed by a siren from a police officer.

The video aimed to reference Hill’s encounters with law enforcement during traffic stops, which occurred before a home game. Eventually, the term associated with the hill incident was taken down.

Interestingly, it’s worth noting that the Los Angeles Chargers also produced a video for their schedule release but obtained permission from Microsoft to use similar animation styles.

According to sources, the Colts recognized that their video segment about Hill was inappropriate and could have inadvertently infringed on Microsoft’s intellectual property rights. While it remains unclear if the animation would have led to warnings from Microsoft, the Colts took the matter seriously.

In their statement, the Colts acknowledged, “We have removed the schedule release video due to an insensitive clip that exceeded our rights at Microsoft. Again, we sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek.”

Hill’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, mentioned that he found the situation amusing and did not support the decision to remove the video. “He laughed about it, but he didn’t think they needed to backtrack,” Rosenhaus said.

Some commentators expressed that the team’s reaction seemed overly cautious. Sports reporter Alejandro Avila remarked that if a joke doesn’t land, it’s better to simply own it rather than apologize unnecessarily. “Don’t apologize by pulling well-produced videos,” he added.