Trump urges Commanders and Guardians teams to reverse name change
Washington
US President Donald Trump on Sunday called for Washington's football and Cleveland's baseball teams to revert to their former names, which had long been criticized as racist.
'The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this,' Trump wrote on Truth Social.
'Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past,' he wrote.
'Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen.
Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago.
We are a Country of passion and common sense.' Trump went on to say he may 'put a restriction' on the Washington team if they did not revert.
'I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone,' Trump wrote.
The Redskins name was retired in 2020, in what was seen a major win for Native American activists who had long seen the team's name as an offensive slur against the indigenous people of the US. The team played as the Washington Football team for two seasons and rebranded as the Washington Commanders in 2022.
Cleveland dropped the name Indians in 2020, before announcing the switch to Guardians in 2021.
Many sports teams reconsidered their names amid a protest movement against racism, sparked by the 2020 death of George Floyd, a black man, in police custody.
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