‘Cannot Be Real’: Reds Minor League Team Pulls Tee Shirts After Fans Say Illustration Resembles Racial Slur

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:

Oh no, chattanooga this isn’t gonna work pic.twitter.com/l9cnHvRzSA

— Dre (@newhandledre) July 23, 2023

Despite the obvious spelling difference, social media users concluded that the play on words too closely resembled the n-word.

Hilariously bad. https://t.co/iIXee4PIWT

— Keg. (@GratefulKeg) July 24, 2023

Cannot be real. https://t.co/tCUmSjxcEc

— ScottieDiggs🎩 🎲 💦 (@scottiediggs) July 24, 2023

Not all were convinced the shirt was racist.

You can’t be serious, right? A HUGE reach to suggest there’s anything inappropriate about this shirt. The ὄ is literally the team logo, and ὄ is used very often by tons of people to substitute for two O’s. Chattanooga is shortened to Nooga by lots of people here. Get a life.

— I AM a biologist (@Hat_rack_jack) July 27, 2023

You have to dig really hard and be predisposed to using slurs in your vocabulary to see anything wrong with this shirt.

— Feral Fawcett (@angelRlong) July 27, 2023

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.