President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide election victory has inspired bold sports culture ambitions by old-school NFL fans.
In the days following Trump’s victory, hoards of Washington Commanders fans have taken to social media and called on Trump to help push the organization to change its name back to “Redskins,” previously used from 1937 until its name was changed in 2020.
The change came after activists and sponsors protested the organization and previous owner Dan Snyder to change it over concerns of racial insensitivity.
The franchise’s previous name and logo was controversial for many years during and prior to Snyder’s ownership. Amid the racial tension that befell the country in the aftermath of the George Floyd riots, the organization was finally forced to change its name when sponsors threatened to pull their deals with the team. Trump then lost his re-election bid later that same year.
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Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally at Lancaster Airport on Nov. 3, 2024 in Lititz, Pennsylvania. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
However, now that Trump is heading back to the White House, fans are expressing their desire to help restore the team’s original branding. The viral wave of requests has come, primarily on X, as fans have posted about the topic and independent NFL news and rumors pages have helped circulate the requests.
One fan wrote, “Commanders sounds too much like Communism.”
Another fan wrote, “Every time I hear the sports commentators say “commanders” I think DEI and it ruins the game.”
However, skeptics have pointed out that the franchise is a private entity, and Trump, as president or president-elect, has no official authority over the team’s brand or any other decisions.
“The American education system has failed many of you,” one skeptic wrote in response to reports of the fan requests.
Meanwhile, another naysayer wrote, “The Commanders are a privately owned organization, which means orange man cannot make them do anything about the name.”
Blackfeet Chief John Two Guns White Calf was the inspiration for the face that appeared on Washington Redskins’ helmets and merchandise from 1972 to 2000. Washington Redskins helmet photo on right. (FPG/Archive Photos/Hulton Archive and Will Newton; both from Getty Images)
The Washington Post released a poll in June that found that 58% of fans said they do not like the team’s new name.
The family of the Blackfeet chief who previously served as the face of the Redskins’ logo for 48 years, wants his image back as the team’s official logo, his relatives previously told Fox News Digital.
Two Guns White Calf’s proud portrait adorned Redskins helmets, T-shirts, playing fields and marketing materials from 1972 until 2020. The White Calf family has support in Washington, D.C., from one of their Montana senators, while the NFL franchise itself, now known as the Washington Commanders, is making new efforts to honor the team’s heritage.
“The fans want him back and we want him back,” Thomas White Calf, a great nephew of the celebrated early-20th-century native, said.
Meanwhile, Delphine White Calf, a niece of the late Blackfeet chief, said “Our ancestor was the most famous and most photographed native in history. Two Guns was also the face on the Indian head nickel. I’m proud of him. The Blackfeet are proud of him.”
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Washington Redskins fan Christina King, left, and sister Carolyn Steppe. King owned a suite at FedEx Field for Redskins games for three years, she said. They gave up the suite when the team dropped the Redskins name in 2020. (Courtesy Christina King)
White Calf’s portrait and the name Redskins were erased from the NFL in 2020 following years of mounting public pressure, much of it fueled by the George Soros-funded cancel-culture group, the National Congress of American Indians.
The team’s new ownership group, led by majority owner Josh Harris and his wife Majorie, have addressed the idea of another possible name change in the future.
“As you would imagine, everybody has an opinion about the name,” Majorie Harris told reporters in May. “Some good, some bad, some in the middle. I think that we have a lot of work to do, so that name issue is gonna be on the side for now until we can get things going.”
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