Donald Trump Criticizes Idea of Washington, Cleveland Teams Changing Nicknames

President Donald Trump criticized the Washington NFL franchise and Cleveland MLB franchise for considering a possible name change in the wake of the ongoing movement against systemic racism. 

Trump tweeted the teams "look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct":

Washington announced last Friday it "will undergo a thorough review of the team's name."

That came after FedEx, which owns the naming rights for Washington's stadium, indicated it would be in favor of a change. Nike expressed a similar sentiment. AdWeek's Mary Emily O'Hara reported a group of investment firms had written letters to FedEx, Nike and PepsiCo to end any business dealings with Washington unless the team moved on from its current moniker.

Cleveland also said on Friday it was "committed to engaging our community and appropriate stakeholders to determine the best path forward with regard to our team name":

Cleveland manager Terry Francona supported the effort.

"I know in the past, when I've been asked about, whether it's our name or the Chief Wahoo, I think I would usually answer and say I know that we're never trying to be disrespectful," he said, per CNN. "And I still feel that way. But I don't think that's a good enough answer today. I think it's time to move forward. It's a very difficult subject. It's also delicate."

With the start of the 2019 MLB season, Cleveland dropped Chief Wahoo as one of its logos because of longstanding criticisms that the image represented a racist portrayal of Native Americans.