The Washington Redskins have come under fire for the pejorative nature of their team name, but owner Daniel Snyder stood up to criticism, remaining adamant in defense of the nickname.
Daniel Snyder vows to ‘never’ change Redskins team name
Daniel Snyder doesn’t mind the objections to his team’s racially charged nickname; he says the Washington Redskins will remain the Washington Redskins so long as he’s in charge.
Rob Carr
Snyder’s team has faced outcry from Native American advocacy groups, as well as those just displeased with a team using a racial epithet as their team name, and is currently under lawsuit looking to change the name. But Snyder remained steadfast when talking to USA Today:
“We will never change the name of the team,” Snyder told USA TODAY Sports this week. “As a lifelong Redskins fan, and I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it’s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season.”“We’ll never change the name,” he said. “It’s that simple. NEVER — you can use caps.“The lawsuit against the Redskins is the second. A previous lawsuit took 17 years to resolve and eventually reached the Supreme Court. However, it died when the nation’s highest judicial body ruled not that the name was acceptable, but that the plaintiffs had filed their suit too long after the team’s trademark had been granted. A new suit, filed in 2006 by a group of five Native American plaintiffs, will hope to prove that the team name was already disparaging when the trademarks were initially granted, which would make it in violation of laws preventing trademarks of contemptuous names. That case finally reached the court system in March.
For now, Snyder has the final say in the matter, right or wrong. And considering his stance, nothing will change about the squad’s outdated name until somebody forces it to change.
More from SB Nation:
See More:
