One of ESPN’s major talking heads used his sartorial choices Thursday to mock both the Cleveland Indians mascot and the team’s decision to de-emphasize it, wearing a “Caucasians” parody T-shirt on air.
On Thursday’s “Mike and Mike” show, substitute host Bomani Jones sported a T-shirt with the word “Caucasians” in the same script as “Indians” on the Cleveland uniform and a version of smiling “Chief Wahoo,” only the iconic “Indian’s” skin is white instead of red, and his feather is a dollar sign.
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In the middle of the show, as reports were that the T-shirt was dominating social media, “Mike and Mike” turned itself over to conversation about the clothing, which many on social media had called disrespectful and reportedly angered ESPN top brass.
That was exactly the point, Mr. Jones said.
“The statement is obvious … this is the same thing that goes on with the logo for the Cleveland Indians, right? So, to have a problem with the logo of this, would be to have a problem with the Indians, but if you’re quiet about the Indians, and you got something to say about my shirt, I think it’s time for introspection,” Mr. Jones said.
Earlier this week, the Cleveland team said that while it would retain the Indians name, it would only use the Chief Wahoo logo on special uniforms and not on their everyday uniforms and caps.
That wasn’t good enough for Mr. Jones, and other critics of Indian nicknames, who point out that the Cleveland team will still use the Chief Wahoo caricature, and on merchandise.
“The reason they won’t get rid of Chief Wahoo, which is completely indefensible, is they could still sell stuff with it. They can say they’re gonna de-emphasize it, but they’re not just gonna set money on fire. I thought [the shirt] was the exact same thing,” Mr. Jones said.
But his point was still widely missed — or disagreed with.
According to TMZ, the higher-ups at ESPN “freaked out” and ordered him mid-show to cease. Images from the program show that later on, Mr. Jones partially zipped up the hoodie-jacket he had been wearing.
An ESPN representative told TMZ that “As the show progressed, we felt Bomani had made his point and had openly discussed why he was wearing the shirt, and we wanted to keep the focus to the topics of the day.”
Later, Mr. Jones responded on Twitter by saying the only comment he’d have would be — “my bosses asked” — what he had said on “Mike and Mike,” a video clip of which he then linked.
That wasn’t quite all Mr. Jones said, though. He spent some time on Twitter quoting some of the responses he had received. One by “That_Guy” referred to him by the c-word and told him to “get caught in hood violence you f—-ing waste of sperm and oxygen.”
Another tweet, from Ben Gamron, said “thk you bomani for showing us your just another in the long line of race baiting hypocrits. ESPN shut you down lol.” Mr. Jones responded by noting the incorrect spelling of “your” (not the only misspelling).
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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