Did the NFL tell Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles players they were not allowed to wear green in the Brazil opener, citing gang violence, as a post on Instagram Threads claimed? No, that's not true. This rumor originated in a podcast episode where Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs falsely stated that at "the part of Brazil" where the September 6, 2024, NFL season opener is to be held, attendees and players "can't even wear green." Jacobs later publicly stated that he was "misinformed," and his sports agency confirmed to Lead Stories that such claims are "misinformation and not true." As of this publication, the NFL issued several statements to publications to confirm that the claim is false.
A version of the claim originated in a post shared to Threads on June 7, 2024 (archived here), with a caption that read:
🚨BREAKING:
The #NFL is telling Green Bay #Packers & Philadelphia #Eagles players that they are NOT ALLOWED TO WEAR THE COLOR GREEN in Brazil for the opener, due the GANGS.
Teams will likely be forced to stay in the hotel all week and travel in armored vehicles, per former Raiders Josh Jacobs NFLThreads
This is how the post appeared on Threads at the time of this publication:
(Source: Instagram Threads screenshot taken Sun June 9 22:31:22 2024 UTC)
Chad Wiestling (archived here), president and founder of Black Label Sports Group, LLC, the sports agency of which Jacobs is a client (archived here), told Lead Stories that such claims are "not true."
"This was misinformation and not true. Josh Jacobs came out the next day, apologized, and said he was given misinformation," Wiestling told Lead Stories in an email received on June 12, 2024.
On June 6, 2024, Matt Schneidman (archived here), a Green Bay Packers beat writer for the sports journalism website The Athletic, posted (archived here) a screenshot of Jacob's statement shared to social media. It read, "Damn I was misinformed sorry Brazil 🇧🇷see you soon 😁."
Josh Jacobs apologizes to Brazil https://t.co/FA8NqZTZAH pic.twitter.com/yvwWKB3dtH
-- Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) June 7, 2024
In April 2024, the NFL announced (archived here) that the Green Bay Packers would play the Philadelphia Eagles on September 6, 2024, to launch the 2024 season kickoff in the first-ever NFL game in South America.
The rumor that fans and neither team -- whose team colors are different shades of green -- would be allowed to wear green jerseys originated in a June 2024 episode (archived here) of the podcast "Green Light with Chris Long." At the 25:14-mark, podcast host Long asked Jacobs what he was most excited about with the upcoming Brazil season opener, to which Jacobs replied:
You know, they said that the part of Brazil we going to, you can't even wear green at...
They said, like, I guess something to do with the gangs and stuff...
They told us, they was like, man, it's one of them places where they probably won't even let us leave.
On June 6, 2024, ABC Wisconsin affiliate WISN-12 reported (archived here) that NFL chief spokesperson Brian McCarthy (archived here) said the rumor was not true, stating that:
One of the host stadium's rival soccer clubs wears green, but the league did not say players could not wear green. That is false.
Similarly, Michael Signora (archived here), NFL senior vice president of football and international communications, also told the Philadelphia Inquirer (archived here) in an article published June 7, 2024, that in Brazil on September 6, 2024, "you will see a stadium full of fans wearing the green of the Eagles and the green of the Packers."
Other Lead Stories sports fact checks can be read here.
