Take heart, NFL fans who are willing to spend a lot of money in support of a joke. You can, after all, buy a personalized jersey bearing the name “Harambe” on the back.
This important piece of NFL business comes from Darren Rovell of ESPN.com, who reports that the NFL has lifted its ban on “Harambe” as an option for the name plate on jersey. Per Rovell, Harambe was inadvertently added to the league’s George Carlin-style list of seven words that can’t be said on TV -- but with a lot more than seven forbidden formulations of consonants and vowels.
The list over time has included some surprising names. For example, the name “Vick” was blocked during and after the prosecution of Mike Vick for dogfighting, in 2007.
Harambe, a gorilla killed by workers at the Cincinnati zoo after a four-year-old boy fell into his enclosure, has become a cult figure in his demise. My own son tells me, however, that Harambe references are no longer funny. Which of course means that I’ll be making them, repeatedly.
HARAMBE!