Controversial Political Ads Could Be Tied to Eagles' Employee

The Eagles have claimed posters dubbing presidential hopeful Kamala Harris as the official candidate of the organization are counterfeit.

NovaCare Complex practice bubble / John McMullen/Eagles SI

PHILADELPHIA - Some are questioning whether an Eagles’ team executive could have ties to the viral “advertisements” that appeared in Philadelphia claiming Vice President Kamala Harris is the organization’s endorsed candidate to be the next President of the United States.

The series of posters were first spotted on Labor Day, depicting Harris in an Eagles helmet with the declaration that she is the official candidate of the popular NFL team.

The @Eagles call these “counterfeit political ads” 1/2 pic.twitter.com/bBFh6D0lz3

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) September 2, 2024

A league source quickly denied that the Eagles had endorsed any political candidate and the team quickly released a statement via social media saying “We are aware counterfeit political ads are being circulated and are working with our advertising partner to have them removed.”

The posters featured an illustration of Harris holding a football, with the words “official candidate of the Philadelphia Eagles” below her first name. 

Posters were spotted at 16th and Spring Garden Streets in Philadelphia, as well as 18th Street, JFK Boulevard, and 34th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia, according to CBS News.

Intersection Media, the company that owns the bus stop advertising where the ads were found, released a statement to NBC Philadelphia claiming the ads were not paid for and illegally placed in the ad boxes.

“We are aware that several of our bus shelters located in Philadelphia have been vandalized and that the paid advertising copy in each of those shelters has been replaced with unauthorized copy," Scott Goldsmith, the President and CEO of Intersection Media, said in the statement.

Intersection also explained that the Eagles nor the advertising itself hasd anything to do with the ads being placed.

"We note that the Eagles and Intersection had nothing to do with the creation or posting of this unauthorized copy and Intersection staff will be removing the ads as soon as possible," Goldsmith noted.

The sheer lack of volume of the posters also points to no organizational involvement by the Eagles.  

Independent journalist Laura Loomer, often derided for her perceived right-wing politics, noted that Eagles Director of Team Relations Christian Molnar took to social media to denounce those trying to either remove or cover what Molnar described as “ads.”

LISTEN: ⁦@Eagles⁩ fan Joe from South Philly explains why he is out at bus shelter at 34th & Walnut, covering one of the what the team called “counterfeit political ads.” pic.twitter.com/jLys1DsKpZ

— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) September 3, 2024

“Isn’t that a crime,” Molnar posted on X.com before making his account private. “Is Joe from South Philly going to clean or remove those papers? Are you justifying vandalism? So is you disagree with the ad, you can vandalize?”

When contacted by Philadelphia Eagles on SI the organization stood by it’s original statement that the posters were “counterfeit” and did not comment on Molnar, who is listed in the organization’s staff directory under Executive Administration Support for high-level team executives, including owner Jeffrey Lurie and team president Don Smolenski.

Several current and former employees reached out to Eagles SI regarding the controversy with one noting that the graphics and fonts in the poster look similar to previous campaigns by the team.

Lurie’s politics, which lean left, are also hardly a secret to those in the organization, and multiple employees reached out to say they don’t feel comfortable expressing opposing views.

The belief from one team source, however, is Lurie is too cognizant of the impact endorsing one candidate in such a polarized political environment could do to his business to have approved this kind of marketing even for a candidate he personally supports.

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