CMI: KICK VICK OUT OF NFL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AUGUST 21, 2007

CONTACT: TIM SCHEIDERER OR COLLEEN O’BOYLE AT 703.683.5004

CMI: KICK VICK OUT OF NFL
Unfit for Television, Young Viewers and Role Model Status

ALEXANDRIA, VA – In light of the announcement that Atlanta Falcon superstar Michael Vick will plead guilty to operating a dog fighting ring, the Media Research Center’s Culture and Media Institute calls upon the NFL to ban Vick permanently from professional football as broadcasting him as a role model to millions of impressionable young people on national television is unacceptable:

“Michael Vick has overstepped the bounds of human civility,” said L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center. “Vick is no longer fit to serve as a role model for the millions of children who look up to and take their social cues from professional athletes who appear on television week in and week out.”

“Vick had an opportunity to teach, guide and inspire our nation’s youth but instead, he degraded himself and his profession by taking part in such brutal and inhumane acts,” said Culture and Media Institute’s director Robert Knight.

“Michael Vick no longer deserves the stardom and the limelight offered by the NFL,” Knight continued.

“The NFL should kick Vick out and send a strong message to our nation’s youth and to other professional athletes who bear a mantle of responsibility when they suit up to play professional sports. Our children deserve nothing less and giving a convicted felon televised airtime is unacceptable,” Knight added.

To schedule an interview with MRC President Bozell or an MRC spokesperson, please contact Tim Scheiderer (x. 126) or Colleen O’Boyle (x. 122) at 703.683.5004.