The family of the late football star Junior Seau will not be allowed to speak at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of fame in Ohio in August, The New York Times reported on Friday.
A typical induction ceremony includes a video produced by the NFL Network with an introduction for the still-living player, according to the Times. If the player is dead, in the past, presenters still speak along with a video of the player’s career.
Seau had said before his death in 2012 that he wanted his daughter Sydney to introduce him.
“It’s frustrating because the induction is for my father and for the other players, but then to not be able to speak, it’s painful,” Sydney told the Times. “I just want to give the speech he would have given. It wasn’t going to be about this mess. My speech was solely about him.”
The video is expected to avoid his suicide, the war for possession of his brain, and the eventual diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a form of traumatic brain injury found in dozens of former football players.
The induction ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of the NFL.
