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Since the 1960s, the names and mascots of numerous American sports teams have been subject to protests for using terms that are offensive as their names.
Some teams have completely change their names in response, such as the Buffalo Braves, who became the Clippers in 1978. Some have altered their image, such as the Cleveland Indians, who retired their "Chief Wahoo" mascot in 2018. Others, for example the Washington Redskins, have done nothing at all.
However, the world of controversial sports team names extends far wider than insulting the indigenous people of America, with names of professional, college and school teams taking aim at everyone from the mentally unwell to the people of Ethiopia.
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Read on to find out where 10 of the most ill-chosen in history came from, and why many of them had to change.
The origin of the Ethiopian Clowns' name is unconfirmed, however the Society for American Baseball Research suggest founder Syd Pollock simply plucked it from the headlines of local newspapers reporting on the African country's conflict with Italy in 1935.
The side played baseball in the Negro American League, one of several predominantly black leagues in the early to mid-20th century during the segregation of US baseball.
The team operated under the name the Ethiopian Clowns for eight years, before changing its name to the Cincinnati Clowns to save face at the hands of protesters, who were calling for it to be disbanded.
In 1946, the team moved to Indianapolis, where it stayed until disbanding in 1962.
The Dickinson State Savages
Now the Blue Hawks, Dickinson State University's sports teams were known as the Savages until 1974.
It wasn't until 1981 that Pekin High School in Chicago, Illinois realised it was inappropriate to nickname its various sports teams the Chinks, a slur used to describe Chinese people.
Named after a former student's pet raccoon in 1924 (seriously), it wasn't until 2002 Frisco High School's Fighting Coons changed its name to the Fighting Raccoons.
Locals from the small town in Texas were unhappy with the change, but the school board's president at the time, Dan Presley, said it was the right thing to do because some people were "hurt by it," according to UPI.
Coon is an ethnic slur for black people.
The Coachella Valley High School Arabs
The Arabs, whose former mascot was a deeply offensive stereotype of a bearded Middle Eastern man, changed their name in 2014 after a petition from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
They're known today as the "Mighty Arabs." Much better.
The Wahpeton Wops
The Wops, a derogatory term for Italian-Americans standing for "without papers," was the adopted nickname of Wahpeton High School's sports teams up until the early 1990s.
The Aboriginal All-Stars was a 1983 team made up of the best Australian rules football players of indigenous heritage.
However it only competed under this name once, before changing its name to the Indigenous All-Stars.
No official reason was given for the change, but the term "Aborigine" is often considered offensive because of its "racist connotations from Australia's colonial past," according to Amnesty.
In the book, Barreiro quotes a former school athlete as saying that the school was made aware of the name's meaning by a Seneca chief in 1975, and immediately stopped using it.
The Orofino High School Maniacs
Sports teams at Orofino High School in Idaho are nicknamed the Maniacs, and the school's mascot is a rather barbaric looking man with frizzy hair wearing nothing but a gown.
Just half a mile away from the school lies a 55-bed psychiatric hospital.
Former students have claimed the name and mascot to simply be expressions of the school's enthusiasm for sports, according to Deseret News.
The team's name has never been changed, and is still in use to this day. Female teams are known as the Lady Maniacs.
The London Rippers
The London Rippers' decision to model itself after infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper caused quite the stir in the Canadian province of Ontario in 2007.
London Mayor Joe Fontana said at the time the name was a "serious concern" given its ties to the mythical figure, who is blamed for the murder of five women, whilst a local women's shelter described it as appalling, according to Huff Post.
The Canadian baseball team was never forced to change its name, but was replaced with a side called the "Road Warriors" after folding.
