Fox maybe-accidentally highlights PG-13 sign about 49ers’ Brock Purdy

Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers looks to pass against the Seattle Seahawks during the first quarter in the NFC wild-card playoff game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The San Francisco 49ers (and their fans) have enjoyed giving backup quarterbacks nether-related nicknames over the last few years.

Nick Mullens and Brock Purdy have allowed for not-particularly-sophisticated first-name wordplay opportunities that rhyme with a synonym for “penis.” Mullens was often called “Big Dick Nick” during his tenuous 49ers tenure, and now, Purdy has followed in his footsteps. The Niners have reportedly tabbed Purdy as “Big Cock Brock” and keep talking about the size of his testicles after he snagged the starting job this season. Fans have had plenty of fun with the nicknames too, and it seems that during the first half of the 49ers-Seahawks NFC wild-card round, a risk-taking producer at Fox wanted to make sure those fans had their sign highlighted. (Or the producer didn’t know what they just showed on TV.)

As the broadcast prepared to cut to a commercial break, the camera zoomed in on a pair of fans holding a sign that read, “Big Brock! Go 49ers” with a chicken placed between “big” and “Brock.” TV censorship rules have liberalized over the past few decades, but that remains a complicated and contradictory process to sort through. The sign’s designers apparently did just enough self-censoring for Fox to give them 10 seconds of fame.

Marc Delucchi is an SFGATE contributor and journalist primarily covering sports in California and Hawaii. He is currently the managing editor at Giants Baseball Insider and a contributor at Golden State of Mind and Niners Nation and can be reached at delucchimarc@gmail.com