Jerry Rice Wearing A Popeyes Chicken Helmet In A New Commercial Obviously Isn't Going Over Well

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Jerry Rice broke the hearts of Black Twitter last year when he came out as an “All Lives Matter” guy in his criticism of Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the national anthem. The legendary 49er later changed his tune and apologized for the tweet while also supporting Kaep for “bringing awareness for injustice.” And now Rice is digging a hole for himself again.

The Hall of Famer is getting all sorts of heat for a Popeyes commercial entitled, “Popeyes Wingovations with Jerry Rice.” In the ludicrous ad, Rice wears the “Taste Mask,” a football helmet with a spinning fried chicken attached for “360 degrees of pure wing rotation for handsfree wing eating.” My goodness.

While there isn’t anything wrong with loving fried chicken, the image of a grinning black man wearing a helmet with a spinning drumstick plays too much on the “black people love chicken” stereotype. Oddly enough, the stereotype has its roots in A Birth Of A Nation, the 1915 silent movie about the founding of the Ku Klux Klan. In one scene, the film depicts black elected officials acting crudely, drinking and boorishly eating fried chicken at a legislative meeting. Since then, the stereotype has been used in racist depictions of black people and remains a sensitive issue.

So, with all that in mind, Jerry Rice is once again feeling the wrath of Black Twitter.