With Washington’s NFL team off to a 1-2 start and losing key players to injuries, the team is once again pivoting from football squad to political cudgel. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was asked in an interview with SiriusXM’s POTUS channel if he thinks the team should change its name, which is widely considered a racial slur against Native Americans.
“I don’t think it should change it,” Bush said. “But again, I don’t think politicians ought to be having any say about that, to be honest with you. I don’t find it offensive. Native American tribes generally don’t find it offensive.”
The interview will air Friday as part of The Arena, a new show hosted by ABC News’s Rick Klein and ESPN’s Andy Katz that will focus on the cultural intersection of politics and sports.
Bush is hardly the first high-profile Republican candidate to take a stand against changing the team’s name—last fall, Ed Gillespiecut a television ad pledging to defend the name as part of his unsuccessful Senate campaign in Virginia—but Klein and Katz missed an obvious follow-up. Unmentioned in the interview is the fact that Washington team owner Dan Snyderhas donated $100,000 to Right to Rise PAC, which is aligned with Bush’s campaign for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination.
While Snyder’s largesse went unaddressed, Bush compared the fracas over the name of Snyder’s team to a 2005 decision by the NCAA to allow Florida State University to continue using Seminoles as the nickname for its athletic teams. But there are key differences between the cases. Florida State’s nickname and mascot are officially sanctioned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Washington NFL team’s name is widely despised in the broader Native American community, and has been regularly slammed by the National Congress of American Indians, the largest Native American political organization in the country, despite Snyder’s attempt to defray the controversy through charitable donations.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Jeb Bush Doesn’t Think Big Donor Dan Snyder Should Change the Redskins’ Name
With Washington’s NFL team off to a 1-2 start and losing key players to injuries, the team is once again pivoting from football squad to political cudgel. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was asked in an interview with SiriusXM’s POTUS channel if he thinks the team should change its name, which is widely considered a racial slur against Native Americans.
“I don’t think it should change it,” Bush said. “But again, I don’t think politicians ought to be having any say about that, to be honest with you. I don’t find it offensive. Native American tribes generally don’t find it offensive.”
The interview will air Friday as part of The Arena, a new show hosted by ABC News’s Rick Klein and ESPN’s Andy Katz that will focus on the cultural intersection of politics and sports.
Bush is hardly the first high-profile Republican candidate to take a stand against changing the team’s name—last fall, Ed Gillespie cut a television ad pledging to defend the name as part of his unsuccessful Senate campaign in Virginia—but Klein and Katz missed an obvious follow-up. Unmentioned in the interview is the fact that Washington team owner Dan Snyder has donated $100,000 to Right to Rise PAC, which is aligned with Bush’s campaign for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination.
While Snyder’s largesse went unaddressed, Bush compared the fracas over the name of Snyder’s team to a 2005 decision by the NCAA to allow Florida State University to continue using Seminoles as the nickname for its athletic teams. But there are key differences between the cases. Florida State’s nickname and mascot are officially sanctioned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The Washington NFL team’s name is widely despised in the broader Native American community, and has been regularly slammed by the National Congress of American Indians, the largest Native American political organization in the country, despite Snyder’s attempt to defray the controversy through charitable donations.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
Most Popular in News & Politics
The “MAGA Former Dancer” Named to a Top Job at the Kennedy Center Inherits a Troubled Program
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
Scott Bessent Got in Another Argument With a Coworker; Trump Threatens Chicago, Gets Booed in New York; and Our Critic Has an Early Report From Kayu
White House Seriously Asks People to Believe Trump’s Letter to Epstein Is Fake, Oliver North and Fawn Hall Got Married, and It’s Time to Plan Your Apple-Picking Excursion
Sandwich Guy Has Become DC’s Hero
Washingtonian Magazine
September Issue: Style Setters
View IssueSubscribe
Follow Us on Social
Follow Us on Social
Related
These Confusing Bands Aren’t Actually From DC
Fiona Apple Wrote a Song About This Maryland Court-Watching Effort
The Confusing Dispute Over the Future of the Anacostia Playhouse
Protecting Our Drinking Water Keeps Him Up at Night
More from News & Politics
Manhunt for Charlie Kirk Shooter Continues, Britain Fires US Ambassador Over Epstein Connections, and Sandwich Guy Will Get a Jury Trial
Can Two Guys Ride a Rickshaw over the Himalayas? It Turns Out They Can.
Trump Travels One Block From White House, Declares DC Crime-Free; Barron Trump Moves to Town; and GOP Begins Siege of Home Rule
Donald Trump Dines at Joe’s Seafood Next to the White House
White House Seriously Asks People to Believe Trump’s Letter to Epstein Is Fake, Oliver North and Fawn Hall Got Married, and It’s Time to Plan Your Apple-Picking Excursion
Meet DC’s 2025 Tech Titans
“End the Occupation”: Photos From Saturday’s “We Are All DC” March
Scott Bessent Got in Another Argument With a Coworker; Trump Threatens Chicago, Gets Booed in New York; and Our Critic Has an Early Report From Kayu