NFL star Nick Bosa was fined on Saturday for donning a “Make America Great Again” hat in a post-game interview, according to NFL Network insiders Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero.

The San Francisco 49ers pass rusher playfully crashed an on-field interview with his quarterback Brock Purdy in Week 8 before capturing the camera’s attention and pointing to the Trump slogan draped across his hat.

The $11,255 fine was a result of an NFL rule policing players’ uniforms and equipment.

The policy reads that “throughout the period on game-day that a player is visible to the stadium and television audience (including in pregame warm-ups, in the bench area, and during postgame interviews in the locker room or on the field), players are prohibited from wearing, displaying, or otherwise conveying personal messages either in writing or illustration, unless such message has been approved in advance by the League office.”

Although fines for similar infractions are typically dished out the Friday after the game, SF Gate reported that the NFL could have purposefully delayed penalizing the Florida native so as not to be accused of partisanship ahead of November 5.

However, some still find the application of the rule selective. For example, pro-Collin Kaepernick messaging was commonplace around the league dating back to 2017. Kaepernick famously refused to stand for the national anthem, claiming it was an act of protest against police brutality before morphing into a broader racial message.

The league also allowed for the open promotion of BLM starting in 2020, when players were permitted to display slogans such as “Stop Hate” and “Black Lives Matter” on their helmets. Players also began adding the names of black individuals involved in lethal encounters with law enforcement – George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, etc. – to their gear that remained visible to the viewing audience.

By the 2021 season, players were permitted to choose from an array of messages to display including End Racism, Stop Hate, It Takes All of Us, Black Lives Matter, Inspire Change, and Say Their Stories.

The perennial defensive player of the year candidate later acknowledged that a fine may be heading his way but maintained that it was “well worth it”.

“Clearly, the nation spoke and we got what we got,” he said.