Furious Lions: NFL Films Removes Critical Video About Brian Branch

In the Detroit Lions’ locker room, controversy erupted after the publication and subsequent removal of an NFL Films video on social media, which caused discomfort among the players. The audiovisual material, which focused on suspended safety Brian Branch, was perceived as excessively critical. Amon-Ra St. Brown, the Lions’ All-Pro receiver, expressed his surprise at the content. The video, which was part of NFL Films’ “Turning Point” series, narrated by Louis Riddick, showed a series of unfavorable plays by Branch during the game against the Chiefs.

I thought that video was crazy. I don’t know why it was released, the reason behind it. Brian Branch is an incredible guy. On the team, he’s one of the nicest guys. He’s quiet, you never really see him angry. He’s always smiling. He made a mistake and he knows it and apologized and I don’t know why it’s still dragging on, but I don’t think that video was right.

Amon-Ra St. Brown

Branch was suspended for one game due to unsportsmanlike conduct, following an incident with Kansas City Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, which sparked a brief fight at the end of the game. The suspension was confirmed after an appeal. The Lions defensive lineman, DJ Reader, also called the video “weird”.

If you’re saying you don’t want to glorify something, you don’t want something in the game or this, that and the other, then why release this new video about it and it’s narrated and you’re literally highlighting plays over and over and over again? You’re shedding more light on that than the internet had on something that already happened. If you’re trying to move on, then move on. It doesn’t seem like that’s what you guys were looking for.

DJ Reader

Reader also expressed surprise at the video’s narration and the words used by Riddick, which generated negative reactions online. Riddick issued a statement on social media, explaining that the intention of “Turning Point” is to document the events of a game, both good and bad, and that there was never any intention of presenting Branch in a negative way.

That being said, I can see how the short clip that was published could be interpreted as an attempt to present the #Lions or Brian Branch in a calculated and unfavorable way. I don’t want to be a part of that. I will make sure that anything that has my name attached to it never again leaves room for it to be interpreted that way in the future.

Louis Riddick

The NFL also issued a statement about the clip and its removal. The NFL statement explained that the sequence, which was part of a nine-minute analysis of the Lions-Chiefs game, was perceived as excessively critical of Brian Branch when presented as a standalone excerpt on social media, so it was decided to remove it.