Aaron Hernandez’s Photo Removed from Hall Of Fame

A photo of former New England Patriots player  Aaron Hernandez has been removed from The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Hernandez, you may recall, has recently pleaded not guilty to the murder charges involving the death of 27-year-old semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd and is being held without bail. After reportedly receiving several complaints, an official from the museum told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer they decided to get rid of the picture.

“In the spirit of good taste we thought we’d take it down,” Joe Horrigan, vice president of communication and exhibits for the hall, told the newspaper.

The image that drew the objections is one that shows the ex-NFL star high stepping into the end zone in a game in which the Patriots played against the Green Bay Packers in 2010. That year, the image was the winning entry for the annual Hall of Fame’s photo contest.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top