The Culture War - Tim Pool - NFL Is DOUBLING DOWN on Woke Messaging ft. James Klüg
Aired: 2025-08-18
Duration: 15:34


=== Looking For Attention? (10:43) ===

[00:00:00]  What are we doing?
[00:00:01]  Yeah, what are they still doing?
[00:00:02]  I mean, maybe at this point, they're just looking for any little bit of attention, trying to make headlines.
[00:00:06]  Like, oh, my, maybe, maybe the goal is trying to get the headline, oh, they're still doing this kind of thing.
[00:00:12]  You know what I mean?
[00:00:12]  Like, maybe that's the goal.
[00:00:14]  Um, for a lot of these, a lot of these organizations, you know, they are run by professional business people and they're looking to be in the headlines.
[00:00:21]  So, maybe this is just one last hurrah trying to get into those headlines, at least for the next four years.
[00:00:26]  You know what I mean?
[00:00:27]  Tate Brown here holding it down for Tim Poole.
[00:00:30]  We got an interview coming up here with James Klug, bringing him on to discuss all things NFL and figure out why are they still doubling down on the woke agenda in 2025.
[00:00:40]  I shouldn't even have to say woke agenda anymore.
[00:00:42]  Why is it still a thing?
[00:00:44]  Well, we'll get to the bottom of it.
[00:00:45]  This is from ABC News.
[00:00:46]  NFL teams will again stencil messages in the end zone.
[00:00:49]  The NFL is considering his on-field social justice.
[00:00:52]  So, you know, you love it.
[00:00:54]  We all love this, the woke crap going on in the paint here.
[00:00:57]  So, 32 teams, you get to choose from one of these four options: end racism, stop hate, choose love, or inspire change.
[00:01:05]  And it takes all of us.
[00:01:07]  We'll be stenciled in the opposite end zone for all games.
[00:01:09]  So, I, what are we doing?
[00:01:12]  I mean, is the NFL really doubling down on this?
[00:01:16]  I mean, it just feels so juvenile and weird that we still have to do this.
[00:01:20]  Trump won this loss of the ballot box.
[00:01:22]  Yeah, I wanted your thoughts on the NFL situation.
[00:01:25]  Yeah, they're letting you choose from four great options to put in the end zone, and racism being one of them.
[00:01:31]  You know, there's a lot of racists out there that are watching the NFL and they see the paint on the end zone and they think, wow, I could be so much better.
[00:01:39]  I, you know, I shouldn't, I shouldn't continue down this path.
[00:01:42]  So, um, let's see.
[00:01:44]  Here we go.
[00:01:44]  We got full screen.
[00:01:45]  That looks good.
[00:01:45]  I gotta reframe this one second.
[00:01:48]  So, anyway, so I was curious.
[00:01:49]  Yeah, what are your thoughts on that?
[00:01:50]  So, what's the options?
[00:01:51]  What are the I'm playing a little bit of catch up here, but what are the options right now?
[00:01:55]  Because end racism, I mean, that's going to be disappointing a lot of fans.
[00:01:58]  You know, that's really going against kind of what they're looking for.
[00:02:01]  Uh, you know, there's a lot of people on the other side of that issue, right?
[00:02:04]  So, in this kind of national debate that we're having, what are the other options?
[00:02:08]  Do we know?
[00:02:09]  Yeah, it was uh, end racism, stop hate, choose love, or inspire change.
[00:02:15]  So, you have four great options there.
[00:02:18]  Why is this inspire change?
[00:02:20]  I don't know, maybe the fourth one.
[00:02:22]  I'm not really sure.
[00:02:23]  Are people allowed to vote on this stuff?
[00:02:26]  The craziest thing, like, why are we still doing this?
[00:02:28]  You know, I thought Project 2025 was supposed to eliminate all this like nonsense that we're dealing with.
[00:02:33]  Yeah, um, you know what I mean?
[00:02:34]  Like, we voted for that, we voted for that change, but um, yeah, I dude, the fact that this is still going on kind of blows my mind.
[00:02:42]  I think that they're just looking for like national attention at this point because it's everything has become so much more conservative.
[00:02:48]  The pendulum has swung so much that I think they're just looking for like Donald Trump's attention, attention from the administration, you know what I mean?
[00:02:57]  But uh, yeah, I don't know.
[00:02:59]  I mean, I know that um, when I was going to uh Philadelphia Eagles game, shout out to the Eagles, I saw that they had like end racism on you know, kind of whatever.
[00:03:09]  I'm not the biggest sports expert here, but um, in the touchdown area, basically.
[00:03:14]  And dude, at this point, like everyone just ignores this stuff, right?
[00:03:18]  Like, I don't even know who are they doing this for, right?
[00:03:20]  Like, who's actually concerned about this stuff?
[00:03:23]  Who actually is interested in seeing that in the on the field?
[00:03:27]  Nobody cares about this stuff.
[00:03:28]  I don't know what we're still doing.
[00:03:30]  Like, I thought I thought we were done with this.
[00:03:32]  Apparently, we're not.
[00:03:33]  Yeah, well, yeah, there's something to specifically targeting the NFL because I mean, you know, love it or hate it.
[00:03:38]  Obviously, there's a lot of people very critical of Americans' fascination with professional sports, and a lot of those concerns are justified.
[00:03:46]  But again, like I said, for better or for worse, the NFL is an institution, it is distinctly American, and it is something that is really important to like a large number of men across this country.
[00:03:58]  It's something they look forward to on Sundays and Monday nights.
[00:04:00]  Right, there kind of seems to be kind of a more of a demoralization tactic, but it and that used to work.
[00:04:07]  Like, I remember like when the NFL first started doing this stuff and they had like the black national anthem and stuff like that, you did feel a bit like helpless to some degree because you're like, oh, they're really doing this.
[00:04:17]  And there's like, they're going to shove this down my throat now.
[00:04:20]  But now it's almost like kind of embarrassing.
[00:04:21]  You're just like, dude, why?
[00:04:23]  No one else is still doing this.
[00:04:24]  I mean, like, we saw Pride Month where none of these companies changed their logos or very few of them changed their logos.
[00:04:29]  So now I don't feel helpless.
[00:04:31]  I'm just kind of confused.
[00:04:32]  I'm like, this point, they're just looking for any little bit of attention, trying to make headlines.
[00:04:36]  Like, oh, my, maybe, maybe the goal is trying to get the headline.
[00:04:39]  Oh, they're still doing this kind of thing.
[00:04:41]  You know what I mean?
[00:04:42]  Like, maybe that's the goal.
[00:04:44]  For a lot of these, a lot of these organizations, you know, they are run by professional business people and they're looking to be in the headlines.
[00:04:51]  So maybe this is just one last hurrah trying to get into those headlines, at least for the next four years.
[00:04:56]  You know what I mean?
[00:04:57]  Like that's their big focus.
[00:04:58]  That's their big goal.
[00:05:00]  I know that there's like a male cheerleader and whatnot.
[00:05:03]  Everyone's thinking, hey, we're done with that.
[00:05:04]  Well, people are also talking about it, right?
[00:05:07]  Sure.
[00:05:07]  So maybe that's just kind of this last woke hurrah BS trying to be like, hey, we're not done with it just yet.
[00:05:13]  You know, as they're like fizzling out.
[00:05:15]  But yeah, I don't know.
[00:05:18]  I mean, certainly like Gen Z's not putting up with it.
[00:05:20]  They don't, they don't tolerate that nonsense in sports.
[00:05:23]  And I think a lot of it's just being ignored.
[00:05:24]  But the U.S., one thing I will say, we are a lot further ahead than a lot of other places.
[00:05:30]  Like, dude, in Canada, they're still doing like land recognitions, right?
[00:05:33]  They might be doing it in the UK as well.
[00:05:35]  I mean, that stuff is so over the top and so opposite to the road of land.
[00:05:40]  It's just so gross, dude.
[00:05:41]  It's like, what are you guys doing?
[00:05:42]  Like, this is ridiculous.
[00:05:43]  Yeah.
[00:05:44]  But so at least we're further ahead on that stuff.
[00:05:47]  But yeah, I don't know.
[00:05:49]  It's a mixture of me wanting to say everyone's ignoring it.
[00:05:52]  Like the people at home and that go to the games are ignoring it, but it's still right now making headlines just because everything's swinging so much more to the right.
[00:06:01]  You know what I mean?
[00:06:02]  Yeah.
[00:06:02]  Yeah.
[00:06:03]  I mean, that's, I think that's a big aspect of what's going on is the NFL is so big.
[00:06:08]  And it takes a lot for the average NFL fan to be dissuaded to not tune in to watch.
[00:06:14]  And the NFL knows that.
[00:06:15]  And so I think that's why they feel like they can push the envelope a little more, like you said, to grab headlines because they know that that audience isn't going anywhere because they can, I mean, with the amount of crap they put their audience through during COVID and they didn't shake them.
[00:06:28]  So it's one of those things like there are certain companies with certain audiences that you can put pressure on and you can actually cancel, right?
[00:06:37]  We saw that with Bud Light.
[00:06:39]  Like who was their clientele, right?
[00:06:40]  It was college students.
[00:06:41]  They didn't want to do this whole trans woke gross stuff.
[00:06:44]  That was a successful boycott because they were out of their realm, right?
[00:06:48]  Their audience said absolutely not.
[00:06:50]  Well, NFL is super mixed and people are so dedicated to it.
[00:06:53]  Like I have a ton of friends.
[00:06:54]  Dude, what's the Sunday?
[00:06:56]  Red Zone.
[00:06:57]  Right.
[00:06:57]  Right.
[00:06:58]  Red Zone is like a religious experience to them.
[00:07:01]  Right.
[00:07:01]  And I know that sounds kind of pathetic, but like, you know, they're obsessed with it.
[00:07:05]  They love it.
[00:07:06]  They absolutely, it's every single Sunday.
[00:07:07]  They look forward to it.
[00:07:08]  Right.
[00:07:09]  And so kind of going on what you were saying, NFL's basically at a point where they could just smack somebody across the face over and over again, call it fat, call them ugly.
[00:07:19]  And they're still going to be like, well, I'm still going to watch the games, dude.
[00:07:21]  I don't even care.
[00:07:22]  People do not care at this point.
[00:07:23]  They will literally tolerate anything.
[00:07:25]  NFL knows that, but within reason, right?
[00:07:29]  Like maybe they have one last hurrah of a lot of woke nonsense over the next three years or so.
[00:07:35]  If I were to guess, I think it's going to be calming down because people really just don't care about it.
[00:07:40]  Yeah, I mean, that really is the thing is the national environment has changed so much.
[00:07:44]  But yeah, like I remember during COVID, I mean, we heard the Kaepernick thing and NFL fans didn't really know how to react.
[00:07:50]  So they were just like, oh, he's not a good quarterback.
[00:07:52]  Like that was their problem with him.
[00:07:55]  And then you had like even NASCAR.
[00:07:58]  Like I remember NASCAR was getting crazy during like COVID where they had like the guy, you know, LARPing like there was like the 50s, like there was a noose in his garage or whatever.
[00:08:07]  And like that was like a whole thing.
[00:08:10]  It was the garage pull down.
[00:08:11]  Dude, they were looking for it anywhere, bro.
[00:08:13]  They were looking for it anywhere.
[00:08:14]  So we've definitely gone away from that, right?
[00:08:17]  We've definitely gone away from that.
[00:08:18]  We're like, didn't Kaepernick just have his new docuseries for everyone that doesn't know his story, which is like three people maybe tops.
[00:08:26]  They had that canceled, you know?
[00:08:28]  It's just like, nobody cares, bro.
[00:08:31]  Yeah.
[00:08:31]  You know?
[00:08:32]  Yeah.
[00:08:32]  Yeah.
[00:08:32]  The national, I mean, another indication you can tell the national environment is changing is college football is getting so popular.
[00:08:38]  And it's like, to a degree, I think a lot of football fans have, I mean, I don't know what the TV numbers look like, but a lot of, at least anecdotally, a lot of guys, I know younger guys, prefer college football to the NFL because college football seems to celebrate a lot of aspects of American culture that make us great that the NFL is abandoned.
[00:08:56]  I mean, for one, it's just like vitality and youthfulness and just like love for the game.
[00:09:02]  Because like the NFL, there feels kind of a degree of coldness because there's so much money involved and everything.
[00:09:07]  I know college football is getting pretty bad at the NIL stuff, but college football still feels like to a degree the players actually care about the program that they're playing for.
[00:09:15]  It means a little bit more.
[00:09:17]  So I think that's a really interesting thing.
[00:09:19]  There's this like hardcore meritocratic aspect of it as well, where it's like, who's going to get into the NFL?
[00:09:26]  You know what I mean?
[00:09:26]  Like there's that energy as well.
[00:09:28]  There's you representing your tribe, your school, your college.
[00:09:31]  That's a really big deal too.
[00:09:33]  I know there's similarities there with NFL and whatnot.
[00:09:35]  But yeah, I think to a certain degree when it comes to, or probably an extreme degree when it comes to college football as well.
[00:09:41]  I mean, dude, it's do or die for a lot of these kids.
[00:09:43]  Like they've worked their entire lives.
[00:09:45]  They're going for the NFL and that's all that matters.
[00:09:47]  You know, all that other nonsense doesn't freaking matter.
[00:09:50]  They're not safe.
[00:09:51]  You know, they're not safe in their job or anything.
[00:09:54]  It's, it's, hey, you get injured, you lose that possibility of getting in the NFL.
[00:09:59]  There's none of that, you know, nonsense.
[00:10:01]  There's no room for nonsense when it comes to that.
[00:10:03]  You know?
[00:10:04]  Yeah.
[00:10:05]  Yeah, exactly.
[00:10:06]  So I think overall, like, and we're seeing with the cheerleader, obviously people are really angry.
[00:10:11]  But there's this general sense of the culture in America moving to the right because you are seeing some, there are still some holdovers.
[00:10:17]  People, especially around the immigration thing, get spooked pretty easily.
[00:10:21]  You're seeing a lot of podcasters come out and like basically counter signal the Trump administration's immigration policy.

=== Mass Deportations Resurgence (03:10) ===

[00:10:28]  So it's like, okay, yes, I mean, we should be happy that the Overton window has moved to the right.
[00:10:34]  Like Sidney Sweeney is literally going on TV and he's like, I have blonde hair and blue eyes.
[00:10:37]  It's the best.
[00:10:38]  And that's like normal now.
[00:10:39]  And it's like, okay, wow, this really is.
[00:10:41]  This really is Trump's America.
[00:10:42]  It's getting wacky and wild out here.
[00:10:45]  We knew we were back when white people started showing up back in ads.
[00:10:49]  We knew there was a change going on, actually attracted people as well, just in general are back in ads.
[00:10:55]  We knew we were back.
[00:10:57]  As for the male cheerleader thing, I mean, like, haven't there always been, there's always been male cheerleaders, but they're there for like a supportive kind of position in cheerleading, right?
[00:11:07]  They do the lifting.
[00:11:08]  They do all that stuff.
[00:11:09]  They're pretty big guys.
[00:11:10]  Usually, I'm pretty sure they're straight dudes too.
[00:11:12]  Like, they're just big, strong guys that throw up the flyers.
[00:11:16]  And in this case, we have a guy like dancing like a girl.
[00:11:20]  Again, Project 2025, we voted against this stuff.
[00:11:23]  Go hit the oil rigs, get out of here, you know?
[00:11:25]  So we're not tolerating that.
[00:11:27]  But I think that is another thing where it's like, you know, people are doing these little things here and there for, okay, well, this is the dominant kind of culture right now.
[00:11:36]  Not saying that, you know, the woke people are saying, oh, woke is dead.
[00:11:39]  Oh, it's totally gone.
[00:11:40]  No, like, you know, these psychopaths still control every single major institution in the United States.
[00:11:45]  But culturally, there has been a pretty significant shift, especially with, you know, Gen Z, Gen Alpha.
[00:11:51]  Like, they don't really put up with this stuff.
[00:11:52]  So I still think, like I said, they're doing a lot of that stuff to grasp onto those headlines.
[00:11:58]  But yeah, what were you saying about the immigration aspect?
[00:12:01]  Podcasters going back on, oh my gosh, mass deportations are actually happening.
[00:12:06]  This is spooky.
[00:12:06]  Let's give the left everything they want.
[00:12:08]  Is that what you're talking about?
[00:12:09]  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:12:09]  Yeah.
[00:12:09]  I mean, I don't want to name names per se, but yeah, you're seeing people.
[00:12:13]  Yeah, they're like, what about my gardener?
[00:12:15]  No, no, I needed him.
[00:12:16]  My God.
[00:12:16]  Yeah.
[00:12:19]  Yeah, dude.
[00:12:20]  What are we going to do without exploiting the cheap illegal labor?
[00:12:23]  I have these conversations on the street all the time with people because that's obviously the biggest thing that stands out for the Trump administration.
[00:12:30]  And when people are like criticizing it, that's the thing that they bring up, right?
[00:12:32]  Oh my God, masked dangerous guys kidnapping people.
[00:12:36]  But we kind of figured this would be the case going into the election.
[00:12:39]  Like, you know, everyone knew that, holy crap, we just opened the floodgates.
[00:12:45]  We allow millions of people in.
[00:12:47]  Americans get killed.
[00:12:48]  You have a record-breaking human trafficking crisis, sex trafficking crisis, child trafficking crisis.
[00:12:53]  I mean, the list goes on and on.
[00:12:54]  There's no positives to this.
[00:12:56]  We knew, though, once the mass deportations would start, the only goal for the media right now, basically, is, hey, capture everything bad that is happening with ICE, and we need to make it every single little instance a headline.
[00:13:08]  So if somebody's resisting arrests, that goes CNN, mainstream news.
[00:13:12]  Oh my God, look, they're being aggressive with this illegal immigrant, you know?
[00:13:16]  And so that constant footage is getting a lot of people to kind of buckle, similar to the pressure that people were facing maybe in like 2020 with posting the black square.

=== Need Tim Back Soon (02:10) ===

[00:13:24]  It's kind of that similar vibe where it's like, oh, we need to keep bombarding you with, look at this poor little, you know, Jose.
[00:13:31]  He's being apprehended.
[00:13:32]  Turns out he like, you know, played around with children and none of us knew that, but you figure that out three days later.
[00:13:37]  Nobody follows up and understands it.
[00:13:39]  So you end up with a bunch of ignorant people that are just super upset.
[00:13:43]  And that includes podcasters, you know, like I'm not intelligent just because you put a mic up to my mouth.
[00:13:48]  Wow, I mean, I agree with the sentiment we do need to start putting tariffs on podcasting equipment.
[00:13:54]  This is getting a little out of control.
[00:13:55]  Exhibit A right here.
[00:13:57]  I mean, what, like, you know, but well, dude, thanks for jumping in.
[00:14:00]  It was a last second hot swap, but I really appreciate it.
[00:14:02]  Where can people find you at?
[00:14:04]  Yeah, you guys can find me at youtube.com slash James Klug or James Klug on Instagram, real James Klug on everything else.
[00:14:10]  Awesome, dude.
[00:14:11]  Well, I appreciate it.
[00:14:12]  Well, hopefully we can get an extended chat sometimes.
[00:14:14]  We'll get a full, full interview in.
[00:14:15]  So appreciate it, man.
[00:14:16]  Have a good rest of your day.
[00:14:18]  Let's do it.
[00:14:18]  Thanks.
[00:14:19]  See ya.
[00:14:20]  All righty, guys.
[00:14:21]  Well, that was James Klug.
[00:14:23]  He came in, saved the day.
[00:14:25]  He held it down, gave us some really good correct takes on the NFL.
[00:14:29]  I just want to thank you guys for joining me for this hour of the Rumble live show.
[00:14:35]  I don't know.
[00:14:36]  It's been a little up in the air recently with the Rumble lineup.
[00:14:40]  Whoever comes after us, I'm not entirely sure.
[00:14:42]  Maybe Surge.
[00:14:43]  Not sure now.
[00:14:44]  No.
[00:14:44]  Yeah, we don't know.
[00:14:45]  So we would love to raid, but we don't know.
[00:14:47]  We don't know who.
[00:14:48]  We don't know what to do.
[00:14:49]  So anyway, yeah, thank you for hanging out.
[00:14:52]  Hopefully we can get Tim back soon.
[00:14:54]  Really hope so.
[00:14:55]  You Tim.
[00:14:56]  Yeah, we need Tim.
[00:14:57]  He's the GOAT.
[00:14:57]  I mean, his name's in the channel name.
[00:14:59]  I mean, what are we?
[00:14:59]  It's not Tate Cast.
[00:15:00]  It's Timcast.
[00:15:01]  So yeah, we need Tim back.
[00:15:02]  Just yeah, I pray for him.
[00:15:03]  You know, he's worked a lot.
[00:15:04]  He's, you know, grinding.
[00:15:05]  So we'll get him back here soon.
[00:15:07]  I'm optimistic.
[00:15:08]  Thanks to producer Surge for holding it down.
[00:15:10]  Yo.
[00:15:11]  You can find me on X and Instagram at RealTate Brown.
[00:15:15]  Come hang out.
[00:15:16]  Maybe send me what you think should be in the NFL end zone.
[00:15:19]  I think there should be another option.
[00:15:21]  They should let you vote and we can put whatever we want in the end zone.
[00:15:23]  I think that'd be a lot of fun.
[00:15:26]  We can have some naughty words.
[00:15:27]  So anyway, yeah, thank you for hanging out.
[00:15:30]  Enjoy the rest of your day and we'll see you tonight for Timcast IRL at 8 p.m.