The Cleveland Guardians sound very good with their decision to rebrand, even after President Donald Trump called for them to revert back to the old “Indians” nickname Sunday.
Trump made multiple long posts on Truth Social on Sunday calling for the Guardians and the NFL’s Washington Commanders to switch back to their old team names. He even threatened to block the Commanders’ impending move back to D.C. and their new stadium if they fail to do so.
While not mentioning Trump by name, Guardians president Chris Antonetti made it clear the team isn’t interested in going back Sunday.
“I understand there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but it’s a decision we made and we’ve gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and we’re excited about the future that’s in front of us,” he said, via The Athletic.
The Commanders have not addressed Trump’s post.
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The Guardians officially changed their team name ahead of the 2022 season, shortly after they stopped using the “Chief Wahoo” logo, which many saw as racist and offensive toward Native Americans. The Commanders retired their old “Redskins” nickname in 2020. They went by the Washington Football Team briefly before landing on the Commanders. Their old nickname, which had been in use since 1933, was widely seen as an offensive slur and drew plenty of criticism in its final years of use. “For obvious reasons,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said in August, that can’t return.
“I think [Commanders] is now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff,” he said earlier this year, via ESPN. “So we’re going with that.”
Though it’s unclear if the threat of blocking their stadium deal, real or not, will sway the Commanders, both Harris and Antonetti seem very content with their franchises’ new names.
