DALLAS—A handful of NFL players have reportedly come out against pornography and aligned themselves with the XXX Church.
One such player, Green Bay Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett, sits on the board of the ministry and will miss the organization’s National Porn Sunday, to be held in Addison, Texas, this Sunday, because his team is playing in Super Bowl XLV.
"I would love to have been with you guys today. But fortunately, I'm a little busy," Pickett says in a taped promo video.
Pickett claims to have never struggled with porn addiction, but got involved with the ministry because he was concerned about the proliferation of pornography.
XXX Church has plans to broadcast a religious service on Super Bowl Sunday featuring the pro football players who will carry its porn addiction message to 300 churches across the country.
NFL quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks and Jon Kitna of the Dallas Cowboys also appear in the video, with Hasselbeck saying the ministry helped save his marriage.
Former NFL quarterback Josh McCown also is quoted in the tape, saying pornography was “taking me some place I didn’t want to go” and "It's a whole lot easier to tell your wife you're struggling with it than to have her walk in on you.”
The tape goes on to describe the strategies the players use to insulate themselves from pornography while on the road.
"We try to do stuff when we travel so if players do have the temptation to watch certain things, we call," Pickett said. "We have a thing where we're trying to set up a block of hotel rooms so you can't order certain movies and see certain shows. It's just kind of like we're building a network."
Pictured clockwise from upper left are Matt Hasselbeck, Ryan Pickett, Jon Kitna and Josh McCown.
