Why Washington Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinn’s Bootleg T-Shirt Is Raising Eyebrows and Sparking Much Controversy Online

Dan Quinn, the new head coach of the Washington Commanders, donned a t-shirt Sunday that brought back memories of mascots of old — and not in a good way.

The Commanders had long been known as the Washington Redskins – and their logo depicted a native’s head inside a circle with two feathers hanging off the side.

So when Quinn donned a graphic tee that paired the team’s current “W” logo with those two feathers, he stirred up controversy.

The team told NBC Sports yesterday that it had “no comment on the organization” – with the outlet also reporting that “Quinn wore the T-shirt on his own, without the team knowing he would “.

But beyond the obvious racial controversy, this also raises copyright infringement concerns, as the jersey is not officially licensed by the NFL.

The feathers on the “W” of the bootleg jersey harken back to when the team was called the Redskins.

With Quinn entering the debate and wearing “bootleg” merchandise, it’s important to remember why it’s controversial in the first place.

The team was called the Redskins from 1933 to 2019. During its first year, the team was called the Braves, named after the baseball franchise that, at that time, played in Boston.

During this period, there were numerous calls for the team to change its name, which many considered racist.

Although they are not the only professional sports team to have a Native American as their mascot, the Redskins were one of the most prominent modern examples of this controversy.

A number of groups, including the National Congress of American Indians, considered the name “Redskins” a racial slur and spent decades trying to get the name changed.

This shift finally happened in 2020, amid a wave of racial tensions and protests throughout this summer following the killing of George Floyd.

After remaining strong in his belief in keeping the name in previous years, former team owner Dan Snyder announced he would retire the nickname in July 2020.

For a time, the team was known simply as the “Washington Football Team” – before finally becoming the Commanders in 2022.

For years, team owner Dan Snyder resisted calls to change the team’s name.

Finally, after years of pressure from individuals and groups, Washington changed its name.

Since this name change, many people with ties to the team have disliked the new name – with some advocating going back to the old nickname.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk suggested that Quinn wearing this bootleg product looked like a “trial balloon, an interim step towards a potential return of the name and logo” – with the writer saying “There are no accidents” .

He later backed off that belief slightly: “Our understanding is that Quinn wore the T-shirt on his own, without the team knowing he would do so. While it might have seemed like something of a trial balloon for the head coach to display a mashup of the current logo and the old logo, the Commanders are not testing the waters for a possible revival of the name and abandoned logo, or for incorporation. aspects of the old logo in the new one.

But even if it was an accident, this shirt also raises legality issues.

“The T-shirt is not officially licensed,” Florio reported. “The bots flooding social media with links to purchase the jersey are peddling something that infringes on the organization’s trademarks.

“The fact that Quinn inadvertently aided and abetted the infringement efforts creates another set of headaches for the team, which will need to mobilize its lawyers to cease and desist the suppliers of the T-shirt in order to protect the rights of associated authors.”

Many fans were unhappy with the name change to Commanders, which came in 2022.

But the issue of Quinn wearing unofficial merchandise is just as difficult to understand.

Other authors shared a similar belief that the logo (and the fact that it appeared on counterfeit products) was bad news for the coach and the team.

‘Dan Quinn in bootleg merchandise. The NFL is not going to like this,” Dallas Cowboys writer Clarence Hill Jr. wrote on Twitter.

Jason Reid of ESPN wrote: “Anything associated with the old name gets people moving, one way or another. They just drafted a QB with the second overall pick. The new general manager has just received his first version. The new head coach leads the recruits. Optimism is everywhere.

“I just don’t understand the strategy of doing anything to distract from the excitement on the pitch. If this was a trial balloon, he could have done better than the new HC wearing a bootleg shirt Nike pays for him to wear their shirts.

“I understand that the fans like the jersey and don’t think it matters, but Nike has a million reasons why it expects the coach to wear official clothing. Regardless, after my experience these things always added up there But maybe everything will be okay this time.

Whether or not Quinn will be punished by the team or the league — or if the team decides to go after sites selling this bootleg merchandise — remains to be seen.