Stephen Holder
INDIANAPOLIS — The Colts‘ attempt at a little levity has gotten them into a situation that is no laughing matter.
The Colts, like most NFL teams, compiled a video to accompany their regular-season schedule release Wednesday evening, but they abruptly removed it from social platforms Wednesday night for multiple reasons, the team said.
“We removed our schedule release video because it exceeded our rights with Microsoft and included an insensitive clip involving Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill. We sincerely apologize to Microsoft and Tyreek,” the team said in a statement to ESPN on Thursday.
The video, which was intended to be a spoof of the popular video game Minecraft, revealed the team’s season opener against Miami with an image of a Dolphin wearing a No. 10 jersey and labeled “Hill” swimming along before he is stopped by a Coast Guard boat with a blaring siren.
Hill was involved in a controversial incident with Miami-Dade deputies last September as he was arriving for a home game. Hill was dragged from his vehicle, taken to the ground and forcibly handcuffed. His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, later called for the officers involved to be fired. Traffic citations issued against Hill were later dropped.
Rosenhaus said Thursday that Hill told him that he didn’t take the Colts’ post seriously and that he thought it was funny.
“He laughed about it and didn’t think they needed to take it down on his account,” Rosenhaus said.
As for the Microsoft rights violation, it is likely related to the fact that Minecraft is owned by Microsoft and images identical to those in the game were used in the Colts’ video. The Los Angeles Chargers used similar content in their schedule release video but showed a disclaimer indicating they had permission from Microsoft.
It’s unclear whether the Colts sought such permission from the company.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter contributed to this report.
