(KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images)
A couple of weeks ago, ESPN personality Jalen Rose went viral for his take on Mount Rushmore.
The former NBA guard turned ESPN analyst thinks sports fans should retire the phrase Mount Rushmore when it comes to all-time debates.
Rose thinks it’s offensive.
“Can we retire using ‘Mount Rushmore?’ This should be offensive to all of us, especially Native Americans, the indigenous people who were the first people here before Christopher Columbus,” Rose said in a video he tweeted.
“This land was stolen from them when it was discovered that it contained gold.” And 25 years later, to add insult to injury, four American presidents were placed on what we call Mount Rushmore on top of the corpses that they are buried right. under. So I’m asking for you and for me, I own one too, let’s stop using the term ‘Mount Rushmore’ when we talk about our favorite rappers, we talk about our favorite movies, we talk about our favorite players.”
Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota has since introduced a new bill.
The Mount Rushmore Protection Act will prohibit the use of federal funds “to alter, change, destroy or remove the likeness, name, or any face of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial,” according to a news release.
Fans have taken to social media to weigh in.
“Is this a response to using Mount Rushmore as a sports analogy? Is this a joke?” wrote a fan.
“Using ‘Mount Rushmore’ as a sports analogy is not offensive. Mount Rushmore will not be ‘cancelled’. Let’s move on,” another fan wrote.
“Our country may be in crisis, but at least this representative is addressing the most pressing of our problems…” another fan wrote.
Where do you stand on the issue?