• March 28, 2024

The FCC May Start Fining Stations for Saying ‘Redskins’ On Air

Redskins-1Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, indicated Tuesday that the FCC may begin fining broadcasters for saying the Washington Redskins name on air.

The FCC recently received a petition from John Banzhaf III, a legal activist and George Washington University professor, calling on the agency to strip a Washington, D.C., radio station of its broadcasting license for using the name, according to Reuters.

“We’ll be looking at that petition, we will be dealing with that issue on the merits and we’ll be responding accordingly,” Wheeler said during a conference with reporters, according to Reuters.

“There are a lot of names and descriptions that were used over time that are inappropriate today,” he said. “And I think the name that is attributed to the Washington football club is one of those.”

Several media outlets have already instituted their own self censorship policies on the name Redskins, including the Washington Post and Washington Business Journal.

NFL announcers Tony Dungy of ABC and Phil Simms of CBS have also pledged not to use the name on air.

The Redskins team name is widely considered to be a slur against Native Americans.

[Photo via NFL’s Washington Redskins]

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