Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said Friday that he doesn’t view Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder in the same light as Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, but he’d “probably” change the name of the football team.
“If they think it’s that offensive and terrible, I would certainly, probably — look I’m not the owner and he has the rights of an owner. But frankly I would probably change the name,” McCain said on “The Dan Patrick Show.”
“Myself I’m not offended. You’re not offended,” he added. “But there are Native Americans who are.”
Asked if Snyder should face a little more scrutiny in the wake of Sterling’s comments on race, McCain said he wouldn’t jump to connect the two.
“But I do believe — if I were him I would sit down with Native American leaders,” he said. “I’ve been involved in Indian Affairs in a long, long time. We have a large Native American population in our state. I’d call the Native American leaders together and I’d sit down with them and say ‘What is it you want?’ If I were him I’d have a dialogue.”
McCain added that he thought Sterling would probably mount a court challenge to the NBA’s decision to ban him from the league for life.
