The Atlanta Braves are the latest sports franchise to come under fire regarding their name and removing a logo based on a racial stereotype.
Fresh off the news of the Aunt Jemima Brand changing their name, social media users took to Twitter and urged Major League Baseball to make the Braves change some things.
They wrote that the Braves need to adopt a “less offensive” mascot and stop taking part in the Tomahawk Chop celebration during the games.
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It was reported back in October 2019 that the team would reduce use of Tomahawk Chop after Cardinals’ pitcher Ryan Helsley, who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, called it disrespectful.
The Tomahawk Chop is widely used during Braves games as fans move their forearms forward and backward with an open palm in a chopping motion.
“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general,” Helsley told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and it devalues us and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots.”
“That’s the disappointing part. That stuff like this still goes on. It’s just disrespectful, I think.”
