Jimmy Iovine Calls NFL Beats By Dre Ban 'Lucky,' Says It Makes Apple/Beats Seem Like 'Superheroes,' 'Underdogs'

Chances are, you've never thought of Apple as an underdog in any way, shape or form.

But Beats By Dre co-founder Jimmy Iovine says the NFL's newly-enforced headphone policies are doing just that.

What's going on? Well, Bose — the NFL's "official" headphone supplier — complained to the league that too many players were wearing Beats on the field.

A couple weeks ago, the NFL announced that fines would be coming for players who wore Dre and Iovine's headphones, which led to some — including 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — to directly disobey the mandate.

After a $10,000 fine, Kaepernick put tape over Beats logo but continues to wear them in that fashion.

"We didn't do anything, and now the players are going out and putting black tape on our logo," Iovine said, according to Business Insider. "It's like, I can't believe I'm this lucky. I feel like sending them the tape.

"What happened there, you have a tech company [Bose] that's culturally inept. There's no one at the company that said, 'If you ban these guys, you're going to look bad to the young people, and they're going to look like superheroes even though they're just pure capitalists - well they're not pure capitalists, but they're real capitalists and [they] sold that company to Apple - but you're going to make them look like the underdog."

According to Recode, the ban "extends to TV interviews conducted during pre-season training camps or practice sessions and on game day - starting before the opening kickoff through the final whistle to post-game interviews conducted in the locker room or on the podium. The restriction remains in place until 90 minutes after the play has ended."

The initial response from Beats included the following statement:

"Over the last few years athletes have written Beats into their DNA as part of the pre-game ritual," a Beats spokesperson said. "Music can have a significant positive effect on an athlete's focus and mental preparedness and has become as important to performance as any other piece of equipment."

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