This weekend’s protests by white supremacists in Charlottesville intersected with the sports world when former University of Virginia athletes expressed their concern for Neo-Nazis marching through the streets of their old college town.
Oddly enough, the protests intersected with the sports world in a way that was far harder to predict. White supremacist protesters were seen brandishing signs with the Detroit Lions’ and Detroit Red Wings’ logos.
The Red Wings quickly explained they “vehemently disagree” with the protestors and will explore legal action for the misuse of their logo. Now the Lions have joined their NHL counterpart to “detest and disavow” the use of their logo by protestors. Here’s what the franchise told Fox 2 Detroit:
“We detest and disavow any use or implied use of the Detroit Lions logo or any of our marks in association with the event this past Saturday in Charlottesville. We value diversity as it represents the strong fabric of our team, the City of Detroit, the NFL, the game of football, our fans and our country.”
The logo used by protestors (pictured above) looked like a ripoff of the Lions’, only with a red, white and blue pattern with stars to mirror the American Flag. The sign also featured the words “nog är nog,” which translates from German to “enough is enough.” The Lions did not express any desire to take legal action as the Red Wings did.
[Fox 2 Detroit | Photo courtesy: Reuters]
