Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid slammed the National Football League and its priorities — or rather lack thereof — for its actions against New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and its non-actions against the Washington Redskins’ name.
“I find it stunning that the National Football League is more concerned about how much air is in a football than with a racist franchise name that denigrates Native Americans across the country,” the Nevada Democrat said Tuesday on the Senate floor.
“The Redskins name is a racist name,” Reid said.
I find it stunning that the NFL cares more about how much air is in a football than it cares about a racist franchise name.
— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) May 12, 2015
The NFL suspended Tom Brady Monday for four games for his role in “deflategate” after a report found that he knew his team was using under-inflated footballs in last year’s AFC championship game. The Patriots went on to win that game as well as the Super Bowl.
Reid has previously criticized the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for not pushing Washington’s football team to change its name, which has been deemed offensive and racist by opponents. Last May, 50 Senators — Reid included — signed a letter to Goodell urging him to up the pressure on Redskins owner Dan Snyder to change the team name.
Snyder, on the other hand, has said the team name is “not an issue.”
