Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins and the NFL are both demanding that the Department of Homeland Security take down a video that uses the former Eagles star’s likeness to promote the agency’s border messaging. Dawkins said he never approved the use of his name, image, or likeness, and the league has formally asked for the clip to be removed.
The dispute centers on a video DHS posted Sunday, which paired a sizzle reel of Dawkins making tackles and big plays during his NFL career with Korn’s “Blind” on the soundtrack. According to Breitbart News, the video was published in response to news of a migrant caravan moving toward the Southern U.S. border.
By Monday, both Dawkins and the NFL had pushed back publicly, asking that the video come down.
Dawkins: ‘I Didn’t Give My Permission’
In a post on X, Dawkins made his position clear, saying he had not authorized anyone to use his identity in the video.
“Alright, let’s be clear. I didn’t give my permission for my name, image, and likeness to be used by anybody. Alright. By anybody. … Take a deep breath. … Y’all be blessed,” Dawkins said, according to Breitbart.
The message was brief but unambiguous. Dawkins, a Hall of Fame safety who spent the bulk of his career in Philadelphia and is widely regarded as one of the best defensive backs of his era, framed the issue as one of consent rather than politics, emphasizing that no one had cleared the use of his likeness with him.
League Cites Lack of Consent From Team and NFL
The NFL’s objection followed a similar logic. According to The Athletic, neither the Eagles nor the NFL gave consent for the footage to be used, which is why the league asked for the video to be taken down. That account came from a team source who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, per The Athletic.
The involvement of both the player and the league raises the stakes of the confrontation, moving it beyond a single social media post into a question of how a federal agency sourced and cleared material for an official video.
DHS Deflects on Whether It Consulted Anyone
When asked whether it had spoken with Dawkins, the Eagles, or the NFL before posting the video, DHS did not directly answer, according to Breitbart.
Instead, the department issued a statement that focused on its border enforcement posture: “DHS is playing lockdown defense at the border. We will use every Weapon at our disposal, from A to X, to keep Americans safe,” the statement said in part, as reported by Breitbart.
The response left open the central question of whether any permission was sought before the video went live.
A Sports Highlight Reel Turned Border Message
The video’s structure was straightforward: a montage of Dawkins’ on-field highlights, set to a hard-rock track, deployed as an analogy for the agency’s approach to border enforcement. In political messaging, using an athlete’s highlight reel to underscore a policy message is not unusual, but doing so without the athlete’s sign-off can quickly turn a promotional clip into a legal and public relations problem.
Whether the video remains online — and whether Dawkins or the NFL pursues the matter further — is not settled by the reporting so far. What is clear is that two of the most prominent names in professional football have put a federal agency on notice that they did not sign off on the use of a player’s image.
The episode also highlights the sensitivities that come with the NFL’s brand and its players being drawn into partisan fights. The league has generally sought to control how its marks, footage, and player likenesses are used, and it has been quick to intervene when it believes those rights have been bypassed.
For Dawkins, the objection was personal. His post stressed that the decision to use his image belonged to him and no one else — a point he made in plain terms rather than through a spokesperson or a legal filing.
The Athletic’s reporting, cited by Breitbart, indicates that the request to remove the video was tied specifically to the lack of consent from both the team and the league, rather than to the content of the border message itself. That framing places the dispute squarely in the realm of image rights and authorization, even as it unfolds against a charged political backdrop.
DHS, for its part, has not said whether it will comply. Its statement emphasized its enforcement mission and made no mention of the video’s status or the requests from Dawkins and the NFL.
As of Monday, the video was the subject of a public demand from both the player and the league, and a response from DHS that sidestepped the question of prior consultation. The next move — whether the agency removes the clip, edits it, or leaves it up — will determine whether the standoff ends as a brief social media flare-up or escalates further.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/28/nfl-asks-dhs-to-delete-video-featuring-legendary-eagles-star-brian-dawkins-i-didnt-give-my-permission/