FCC dismisses Redskins name petition

The FCC on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by a professor claiming the Washington Redskins name is indecent, according to agency sources.

George Washington University Professor John Banzhaf asked the FCC to deny renewal of the broadcast license for a radio station co-owned by Washington team owner Daniel Snyder, because of the repeated use of the word “Redskins.” Attorneys for Snyder have said banning broadcasters’ use of the word would violate free speech and property rights.


The status of similar petitions filed by three Native Americans against TV stations are still active.

The FCC determined that the law defines profanity as sexual or excretory in nature, so it cannot find the word “Redskins” profane.

“We find that there have been no serious violations of the [Communications] Act or the rules involving the station or any other violations that, taken together, would constitute a pattern of abuse,” wrote Peter H. Doyle, chief of the Media Bureau’s audio division.

Banzhaf said he will not stop his effort to get the name banned from the airwaves.

“I’ve got quite a number of options we’re still looking at,” he said in an interview. “I’ve got to sit down with some of my colleagues and see where we go from here. It’s a disappointment, but it’s certainly not the end of the line.”

The issue of the Redskins name has generated a lot of attention lately. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has said in the past that he finds the term “offensive and derogatory.”

In May, 50 Democratic senators sent letters to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell urging him and the league to endorse changing the name. And in August, the team appealed a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to cancel the team’s six federal trademarks.