Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone raises major issue with Kansas City Chiefs
Oscar-nominated actress Lily Gladstone believes there's one key issue with the Kansas City Chiefs, and it has nothing to do with their roster, their success, their coaches or anything of that nature.
When speaking on her Oscar nomination, which was the first for a Native American woman, she touched on how far society has come for her to achieve this milestone, but she believes there's more to come.
She pointed to the Chiefs name, which is in reference to Native Americans, as a big part of that via the Independent:
“But that’s a lot of history and a lot of years of exclusion or misrepresentation, and I mean Super Bowl’s tomorrow. We haven’t come that far if we look at one of the teams that’s playing."
Gladstone played a Native American woman in the true story of the Osage in Killers of the Flower Moon. Her performance was, obviously, among the best of the year.
Exploring Kansas City Chiefs' history with Native Americans
Lily Gladstone believes there's work to do and a big part of that might be the Chiefs' name. Several sports teams have Native American mascots that are considered insensitive, and some have even changed in recent memory.
In 2020, the Chiefs began a movement to change some things along those lines and decided to ban fans from wearing headdresses and face paint. It hasn't quite worked out as well as they might have hoped since some fans still do
The team also retired their mascot in 2021. He was a horse named Warpaint that would be ridden onto the field every time the team scored. Mark Donovan, team president, said:
“We’ve done more over the last seven years, I think, than any other team to raise awareness and educate ourselves."
However, they have not changed the name. There's been a major movement for sports teams to ditch the old, insensitive and sometimes inaccurate Native American team names, but the Chiefs have yet to do so.
The Washington Redskins rebranded and became the more appropriate Washington Commanders. The Cleveland Indians became the Cleveland Guardians. There's a push for others to follow suit.
The Chiefs haven't, and it's still a sore spot. Their connection to Native Americans is the subject of controversy, and it even followed them to the Super Bowl. A protest broke out beforehand denouncing the chop, a celebration fans often do that is seen as culturally insensitive.