NFL Nixes "Draft Day" Scene Where Kevin Costner is Burned in Effigy by Browns Fans

The Draft Day movie starring Kevin Costner is on the clock for this weekend’s opening. Costner plays the GM of the Cleveland Browns, the movie uses real NFL teams and references, Roger Goodell makes an appearance, and in exchange, the NFL got a little oversight. Costner told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times about one scene that the NFL had removed: angry Browns fans hanging Costner’s character in effigy.

"“I thought it was a real funny moment, but I think the NFL’s really cracking down on fan behavior both inside the stadium and outside,” Costner said. “The idea of hanging somebody, for as funny as I thought it was, and as realistic as I thought it was, it was just an image that I didn’t want in the movie. That was a small price for us to pay, but it shows that they were watching very closely. “I don’t think the NFL would have grown the way it’s grown right in front of my own eyes had they not paid such attention to detail.”"

As we know, Cleveland Browns fans would never have done such a thing in real life, so it’s good we kept young eyes from being influenced. The NFL has been a big part of this movie, working hand in hand with the details. This isn’t the first time they exercised some oversight. You might recall the show “Playmakers”, which aired on ESPN a decade ago, and was cut after one season on the NFL’s network partner because of complaints from the NFL about its portrayal of football (even though it did not use real NFL names). More recently, ESPN pulled out of a PBS documentary on the NFL and concussions, and there were disputed reports about the role that the NFL played in that move.

[image via contactmusic.com]