National Football League (NFL) has been hit with a fresh controversy surrounding player's safety and sanctity. Players of Several teams particularly the Cincinnati Bengals - announced that they would not be doing interviews in their locker room. A critical decision has been taken to prevent players from being caught on camera in totally naked and uncomfortable situations. Usually, Interviews are held in the locker rooms so that players don't feel it is a burden, and access to media helps them gel up with the players. While it is easy it has exposed players to nudity on camera taking away their basic rights and sanctity. The Cincinnati Bengals have been leading this concern asking NFL authorities to take action and make rules and regulations regarding the problem.
"As you've heard from a couple of teams now and the NFLPA is going to come out with a statement, in an effort to protect the sanctity of the locker room and the comfort of the players, each team is going to figure out a program to where we conduct our interviews outside of the locker room," Cincinnati Bengals' Ted Karras, who is also the team's union representative, said.
"Now, this doesn't bar you from the locker room. We can't do that. But what we want to do is get cameras off guys in private moments in our locker room," he added.
NFLPA's statement
In a statement, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA's) executive committee said on Friday, "The NFL’s current media policy is outdated. We … urge the NFL to make immediate changes to foster a more respectful and safer workplace for all players. In the meantime, we encourage each player to ask for interviews outside the locker room during the week," the statement further added.
The new ruling is not for the NFL's game-day media policy. On game days, players are not allowed to decide that they be interviewed outside the locker room.
Karras also highlighted the topic to be a talking point since the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It’s been brought up several times since then. And now we figure it’s the time to do it. But everyone will still be available. … I think what brought it to light was a couple guys naked on camera this year. … This will not affect game day, I don’t think. But we’re going to come up with a good solution to make the week as smooth as possible, get everyone the time they need and, again, protect the sanctity of the locker room," stated Karras.
