Jeb Bush: The Washington Redskins should not change their name

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Jeb Bush says the Washington Redskins should be able to keep their controversial name despite objections from Native Americans who say the name is racist, according to remarks released Wednesday morning. In an interview with a new radio program called "The Arena," set to be released in full this Friday, Bush said, "I don't think it should change it," adding, "I don't find it offensive. Native American tribes generally don't find it offensive."

He continued:

It's a sport, for crying out loud. It's a football team. Washington has a huge fan base — I'm missing something here, I guess. [ABC]

In point of fact, Native American groups do find the name offensive, staging large protests throughout the country in recent years. Furthermore, the U.S. Patent Office in 2014 canceled the team's trademark for being "disparaging to Native Americans."

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Bush, the former governor of Florida, defended the Redskins name by noting that Florida State's teams continue to be called the Seminoles. However, the Seminoles are an actual tribe originally from Florida, while Redskins is widely considered a slur.

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Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.