Early Sunday afternoon news emerged that the Cleveland Indians were preparing to change the team’s name in an effort to appease parties that are offended by it. Later that same day, President Donald Trump weighed in on the matter.
“Oh no,” he wrote. “What is going on? This is not good news, even for ‘Indians.’ Cancel culture at work!”
President Trump has been a strong proponent of not changing the names of sports teams, even if people are offended by them. He maintained that position with the then-Washington Redskins, and has not budged from it since then.
“They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins [and] Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct,” he wrote back in July.
“Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!”
Cleveland’s baseball team has gone by “Indians” since 1915. Back in 2018, the organization disregarded its old Chief Wahoo mascot and logo because Major League Baseball suggested said it was “no longer appropriate.”
In July of this year, Cleveland admitted it was considering a name change.
“We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality,” the team said then in a statement at the time.
Yikes Klay. https://t.co/xh2s7olPJs
— Game 7 (@game7__) December 12, 2020
“Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community … The recent social unrest in our community and our country has only underscored the need for us to keep improving as an organization on issues of social justice.”
When the Washington Football Team changed its name from “Redskins,” the assumption was that it had another name already lined up.
Now, with the NFL season almost completely over, the franchise continues to simply go by “Washington Football Team.”
Does a similar fate await Cleveland?
Time will tell.
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A graduate from the University of Texas, Anthony Amador has been credentialed to cover the Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and high school games all over the Lone Star State. Currently, his primary beats are the NBA, MLB, NFL and UFC.
