In their opinion, Travis Kelce’s team misrepresented Native American cultures.
Lily Gladstone criticized the Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs. For the actress, the focus was on the misrepresentation of Native Americans.
Even before the big sporting event on February 11, Gladstone had addressed stereotypical images at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Award. The indigenous actress with roots in the Siksikaitsitapi and Nimíipuu cultures was honored for her role in “Killers Of The Flower Moon.” She was the first indigenous woman to win a Golden Globe for the Martin Scorsese film and was the first Native American to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. Gladstone described this appreciation as “long overdue.” “Some of the first filmmaking and footage was made by indigenous people as a documentation of our lives,” she said, before discussing the National Football League (NFL) finals.
“We can’t have come this far.”
“There’s a lot of history and years of exclusion and misrepresentation – by that I mean tomorrow’s Super Bowl,” Lily Gladstone said at the Feb. 10 event. “We can’t have come this far if we look at one of the two teams that are playing.” In the San Francisco 49ers game against the Kansas City Chiefs, she was referring to the latter.
In the past, the football club often used clichéd symbols of indigenous cultures to represent itself. An old logo showed a man with a feather headdress and fans also liked to dress up in imitation of the indigenous population of the North American continent. The name of the club is also criticized. “Chief” is a term for indigenous tribal leaders; The club’s name comes from the nickname of the former mayor of Kansas City, Harold Roe Bartle. This and the so-called “tomahawk chop” gesture during sporting successes have been criticized.
This is Lily Gladstone speaking at the Virtuosos Award:
Currently no more feather headdresses at the Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs increasingly distanced themselves from these images. In 2020, the club banned its fans from wearing feather headdresses and certain make-up. After years of criticism, other NFL teams also took action against stereotypical depictions and offensive terms. For example, the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Guardians changed their names after previously being named in reference to indigenous cultures.
Lily Gladstone has been speaking out against hurtful representation since her success with “Killers Of The Flower Moon”. Last year, the actress criticized the series “Yellowstone” as “delusional” and “regrettable”.