The Chattanooga Lookouts, the minor league affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, has pulled a new tee shirt off the racks after fans and social media users said the graphic on the shirt was racist.
The Lookouts, a AA minor league squad, tried to take the shortened version of their hometown name – “Nooga” – and combine that with a pair of eyes for “Lookouts” in place of the “O’s” in Nooga.
Here is the result:
Despite the obvious spelling difference, social media users concluded that the play on words too closely resembled the n-word.
Not all were convinced the shirt was racist.
Nonetheless, the team pulled the tee shirts in response to the social media backlash. The Lookouts, named after nearby Lookout Mountain, have existed since 1885. In recent decades, they’ve spent time in the Reds and Dodgers minor league organizations.