The world needs to be a much kinder place. But the NFL naming Dhar Mann as its Chief Kindness Officer for Super Bowl LX probably isn’t going to do much to help us get there.
The NFL has done plenty of initiatives in recent years in the name of public relations and good optics. That includes putting inspirational slogans like “Choose Love,” “End Racism,” and “It Takes All Of Us” on players’ helmets and in the back of endzones. However, after the election of Donald Trump to the White House for the second time, the NFL chose to bench its “End Racism” message for the Super Bowl last year just in time for the president to be in attendance.
This year for Super Bowl LX, the NFL is taking another step forward in this endeavor. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the league has named influencer Dhar Mann as its “Chief Kindness Officer” AND “Creator of the Week” for the big game.
To this point, Schefter’s tweet is the only actual news on this topic. The NFL has not said what duties the Chief Kindness Officer will have. Maybe it’s going to strictly enforce taunting and roughing the passer penalties and demanding that players shake hands after every play? Maybe it will be going around Super Bowl Media Day and only asking questions about what their favorite ice cream flavor is? Maybe Mann will be in the broadcast booth and join Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth as NBC’s kindness expert.
Dhar Mann is a name that’s probably not familiar to too many NFL fans. And his selection by the NFL one is quite a bizarre one given the normally safe and conservative way that the league does business.
Mann first entered the headlines in 2012 when he was charged with 13 felonies for defrauding the city of Oakland through his medical marijuana business. He later pled no contest to five of those charges and was sentenced to probation.
After those legal troubles, Mann shifted to content creation where he found much greater success. His YouTube page Dhar Mann Studios has over 25 million subscribers. The content is mainly scripted short movies around 20-30 minutes in length that features some celebrity appearances and thought-provoking titles like “Mikey Falls in Love with YouTuber” and “Vegan Teacher Bans All Meat Inside School.” The videos are quite popular and have an uplifting meaning, which is clearly what inspired the NFL to partner with him.
However, the YouTube career of Dhar Mann has also not gone without controversy. In 2023, news was made as workers in his videos protested what they claimed to be poor working conditions. Mann denied the accusations. Perhaps it’s worth pointing out that Schefter and Mann share something in common in that they’re both represented by CAA given the powerful agency has been in the news in recent times given their power and influence in sports, media, and beyond.
It’ll be interesting to see what exactly the NFL has in mind for its Chief Kindness Officer and Creator of the Week in the Bay Area for Super Bowl LX. But the league probably could have found plenty of other influencers who don’t quite have those same ticks on their resume.
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