+

Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

Close
HomeQuizzoneWhatsappShare Flash Reads
 

Watch Trump do the controversial 'tomahawk chop' with Atlanta Braves fans at the World Series

Oct 31, 2021, 11:27 IST
Business Insider
Former first lady and president of the United States Melania and Donald Trump do "the chop" prior to Game Four of the World Series between the Houston Astros and the Atlanta Braves Truist Park on October 30, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Elsa/Getty Images
  • Former President Donald Trump attended game 4 of the World Series in Atlanta on Saturday.
  • Trump was seen doing the "tomahawk chop" alongside Braves fans.
Advertisement

Former President Donald Trump attended game four of the World Series in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday and joined in with Braves fans doing the "tomahawk chop."

Video shared on social media showed Trump making the motion - which is meant to imitate the chopping of a Native American tomahawk - along with countless others at Truist Park.

Atlanta Braves fans have been doing the tomahawk chop at games since 1991 and it's been controversial pretty much since it started. When the Braves made it to the World Series that year, CBS Sports ran a segment on Native American groups that disapproved of the chop as a "stereotypical and warlike depiction of Native Americans."

In 2019, St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, a member of the Cherokee nation, spoke out against the tomahawk chop after a game when he took the mound while Braves fans did the cheer and swung foam tomahawks.

"I think it's a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general," Helsley said at the time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. "Just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren't intellectual. They are a lot more than that."

Advertisement

The issue was kicked up again this week with the Braves in the World Series.

On Tuesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred defended the cheer and touted the Braves' relationship with a local tribe, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

"The Braves have done a phenomenal job with the Native American community. The Native American community in that region is fully supportive of the Braves' program, including the chop," he said, USA Today reported.

But the National Congress of American Indians, the largest Indigenous organization in the US, put out a statement refuting him the following day.

"In our discussions with the Atlanta Braves, we have repeatedly and unequivocally made our position clear - Native people are not mascots, and degrading rituals like the 'tomahawk chop' that dehumanize and harm us have no place in American society," NCAI President Fawn Sharp said.

Advertisement
You are subscribed to notifications!
Looks like you've blocked notifications!
Next Article