ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Two days after naming its mascot "PorkChop," the Philadelphia Phillies' new Triple-A affiliate abruptly dropped the moniker after receiving complaints from Hispanics that it was offensive.
The Lehigh Valley IronPigs, whose mascot is a large, furry pig, had selected PorkChop from more than 7,300 fan submissions. The team, which begins play in 2008, announced Monday that the mascot will be named "Ferrous" instead.
General Manager Kurt Landes said he heard from several Hispanics who said PorkChop was derogatory.
"We were really unaware of any negative connotations with the word 'pork chop,"' he said.
I'm with you, Kurt. "Pork Chop" is a derogatory word for Hispanics? Who knew?
I'm glad "Dinger" isn't derogatory towards any groups.
Pork chop? Really? If this keeps going, we're not going to have any words left to say. Down here in Florida the local tourism agency received complaints over the use of the word "shine" to draw tourists from overseas. The local NAACP organization said the word "shine" was once used as a derogatory term for African Americans. Pretty soon, we're going to have to have a handbook to keep the all the "bad" words straight.
ReplyDelete"Straight"? Is that a homophobic slur???
ReplyDeleteWow, this game is *easy* to play.
Hey, you can't say "easy" with women present, you misogynist. :)
ReplyDelete