The NFL’s Pregame 9/11 Tribute Bizarrely Transitioned Into An Ill-Placed Arby’s Ad

Sunday brought the first full day of NFL action of the 2021 season, and with the opening Sunday coming on 9/12, the NFL opened its broadcasts with a tribute for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It featured a monologue about the importance of remembering the day as well as what 9/12 brought, which was a sense of unity and togetherness rarely found in the U.S., followed by the national anthem sung by the daughter of a man who died that day at the World Trade Center.

It was the kind of somber tribute that there isn’t really anything you can do to make a particularly smooth transition into whatever is next, but it would typically go to a host who would try their best to bridge the gap between tribute and the excitement for football. Except in this case, the tribute rolled straight into…an Arby’s ad, which felt a bit odd, to say the least.

https://twitter.com/CamBNewton/status/1437102184890568704?s=19

Plenty of folks around the internet were taken aback by the ad placement, with a mixture of people being both off-put and also finding it somewhat morbidly fitting that even in a moment of trying to pay tribute, the NFL couldn’t help but wedge in some commercials immediately after.

https://twitter.com/mport56/status/1437099564192960516?s=19

Maybe next time it’d be best to not place an ad break immediately following your tribute, setting Arby’s up to be some form of fast food Nick Castellanos.