Following Sunday night’s game between the Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs, NFL Films shared a short clip from NFL Turning Point, narrated by ESPN’s Louis Riddick. The segment was quickly criticized as a “hit piece” against Lions safety Brian Branch, appearing to favor the Chiefs while portraying Branch as a sore loser — without providing full context of the incident.
NFL Films quickly removed the tweet and the clip from social media after tons of backlash from not just Lions players and fans of the team but fans from around the NFL.
Last night, Riddick released a statement saying the intent was never to create a “hit piece” on any player or team. He acknowledged the short clip “could be taken as an attempt to cast the #Lions or Brian Branch in a calculated, unfavorable manner” and said he wants to ensure future work with his name attached “never again leave room for it to be interpreted that way.”
NFL Films also released a statement saying “We want all of our shows to have a distinct voice and point of view. In the case of ‘NFL Turning Point’, that voice and point of view is Louis Riddick’s. He spends time every week with the show’s producers, watching each segment and going over the script before narrating.
“That particular sequence felt different to us, as part of a nine-minute breakdown of the Lions-Chiefs game, than it did as a standalone excerpt on social media. On X, it felt overly critical to Brian Branch, so we took it down.”
Several Lions players voiced strong disapproval, calling the clip a “smear” or a “hit piece” and raising concerns about trust in the league’s media operations.
“I thought that video was crazy. I don’t know why it was released, the reasoning behind it. … But Brian Branch is an awesome dude. … He made a mistake and he knows it and he apologized, and I don’t know why it’s still getting dragged along, but I don’t think that video was right.” Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said regarding the clip.
DJ Reeder highlighted a growing mistrust with the league saying, “If you’re saying you don’t want to glorify something … then why release this new video about it and it’s narrated and you’re literally highlighting plays over and over and over. … As a player, how can you trust the [NFL] shield now? … I can’t trust them.”
Keeping in mind this is all happening after the league seemingly lied about its role in overturning the Jared Goff touchdown last Sunday night.
Finally, Lions offensive lineman Dan Skipping added, “Look, BB is one of our guys, so seeing the public just keep digging is — I think it’s some [expletive]. … He’s one of us. He’s our guy. We got his back, and I think hypocrisy is going to be called out in the world.”
What’s unfortunate is that neither Riddick’s statement nor NFL Films’ response includes a direct apology to Brian Branch, any acknowledgment of editorial responsibility for the short-form clip, or accountability for the narrative choices made. Instead, both deflect blame — doing little to address what’s becoming a serious issue in how the league portrays certain teams and players.