President Donald Trump is weighing on reports that the Cleveland Indians baseball team is planning on announcing that it will change its name and drop the controversial “Indians” portion.
In a tweet on Sunday night, Trump said, “Oh no! What is going on? This is not good news, even for ‘Indians.’ Cancel culture at work!”
Oh no! What is going on? This is not good news, even for “Indians”. Cancel culture at work! https://t.co/d1l0C9g6Pd
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020
The New York Times reported that the baseball team is planning on changing its name following criticism that it is racist. The paper added that the change could be announced this week.
The reported decision to change the team name comes months after the Washington Redskins football team announced it would drop “Redksins” from its name after a “thorough review of the team’s name.”
Before the N.F.L. team officially announced the change, Trump also took to Twitter to blast the move, “They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct.”
He added, “Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!”
They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
The decision to change the names of the teams comes after the death of George Floyd sparked conversations about racism around the country.
Dan Snyder, the owner of the Washington Football Team, previously said he would “never” change the name. But over the summer, he said the decision to consider changing the name was made “in light of recent events around our country and feedback from our community.”
Both teams faced criticism that their names were racist and offensive toward Native Americans.
Trump has been an opponent of changing names to address the charges that they are racist or offensive. He also vowed that he would “not even consider” renaming military bases named after Confederate leaders.