Amazon announced that it was starting to pull Washington Redskins merchandise from its online platform, while pressure on the team to change its name has been mounting.
The e-commerce giant reportedly gave its vendors 48 hours to review and remove items featuring the Redskins name or logo in a notice on Wednesday.
The team has come under fire recently due to its name being viewed as a derogatory term against Native Americans, which caught even more attention after the nationwide racial justice protests that followed the police killing of George Floyd, an African American man, in Minneapolis.
“With the announcement from the Washington team and the NFL, we are removing products with the team’s name and logo from our stores,” the company said in the notice. “Failure to properly close or delete all restricted product listings from your inventory may result in deactivation.”
The Redskins have received repeated calls from officials and the public, as well as the National Football League (NFL), and some sponsors such as FedEx, to change its name.
After resisting the calls for a while, the team announced last week that it would be reviewing its name.
Other prominent companies like Walmart, Target and Nike also recently stopped selling the team’s merchandise on their online stores.
The Washington Post reported last week that the Redskins would not be able to relocate to a new stadium without changing their name. The team is hoping to move its home from FedExField in Maryland to DC’s RFK Stadium.
In mid-June, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said that the NFL team should have changed their name and returned to the District with a new name.
“I think it’s past time for the team to deal with what offends so many people and this is a great franchise with a great history that’s beloved in Washington,” the mayor said. “And it deserves a name that reflects the affection that we’ve built for the team.”
The Washington Redskins have been known with this name since 1933. They were named as the Boston Redskins previously, and the Boston Braves prior to that. The team moved to the Washington area in 1937.
Redskins Cannot Move to New Stadium Without Renaming Itself: Report