Alleged racist and derogatory comments made during filming in Scottsdale

ALBUQUERQUE

A video of a man making derogatory sexual comments in what sounds like Navajo and allegedly saying, “This is MAGA Country,” is quickly gaining views on social media.

The video posted by “thebandblackbird,” aka Cody Thomas Blackbird, on TikTok shows a man standing in front of what appears to be a store with Native-designed blankets on display at the front entrance.

A caption reading, “This is what we deal with as Native performers while filming a Super Bowl for ESPN. Gilbert Ortega at its finest,” can be read on the video.

The man raises his arms and says, “This is MAGA country,” smiling. MAGA, or Make American Great Again, refers to a catchphrase propagated by Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016. The phrase has since been associated with a racist comment.

The man then grabs his phone and appears to video the crowd while dancing. He then makes a derogatory sexual remark that sounds Navajo. He allegedly tells the crowd to “go back to Gallup” before the video ends.

Blackbird wrote on his social media page what allegedly transpired.

“Before we started filming he was told once already to come out in front of the cameras with his racist rants. So we decided to film what we could. While being filmed by @espn for the SuperBowl Tailgate experience in Old Town,” Blackbird wrote. “The tik tok on this is getting the out there fast but we wanted to put it here on Instagram too GILBERT ORTEGA IS A RACIST PREDATOR WHO DESERVES TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, he tried to physically assault and slurred racist insults (a hate crime) towards performers after kindly being asked to share his racist BS on camera for the world to see.”

Facing pressure

Longtime advocate Amanda Blackhorse, who’s been at the forefront of fighting racist mascots, like the professional football team, the Washington team, said the man’s alleged racist remarks said if the Kansas City Chiefs was a person, it would be the man in the video.

“They’re probably doing the exact same thing – profiting off of Native people, culture, virtuality, identity,” Blackhorse said, referring to Kansas City, which is scheduled to take on the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII on Sunday at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. “And they make pretty good money doing it.”

Blackhorse and Native American groups fighting Washington succeeded when the football franchise succumbed to economic pressures from their sponsors. The team sought, now known as the Washington Commanders, fought to keep the moniker, a derogatory slang used to describe an Indigenous person.

Owner, Daniel Snyder, went on a campaign spree to the Navajo Nation and enlisted the support of Red Mesa High School, which continues to use derogatory slang as its mascot.

Ultimately, Snyder and his franchise retired the name and called itself the Washington Football Team before becoming known as the Commanders.

Blackhorse, who is planning a protest Kansas City on Sunday, said the allegedly racist and derogatory sexual comments that were made during a filming of Native dancers in Scottsdale are not new and that Native people have been dealing with it for decades.

“I think Native people have been dealing with these two things for decades. We’ve been dealing with mascots for decades; we’ve been dealing with companies like Ortega’s for decades, who exploit our people and then just blatantly disrespect us,” Blackhorse said on Wednesday. “You would think that if he was profiting off Native people within the Native community, that he would be a friend to Native people, but it’s obviously not the case, from what we’ve seen, you know, he shows himself, I think, for who he really is, which is just a MAGA supporter.”

Cheyenne Jackson responded to the remarks made by the man as being “sad” and that “racism and hate” were “very much alive.” Jackson stated she went to work to support the dancers performing for ESPN and instead witnessed the alleged incident.

“Our very jealous/ugly neighbor GILBERT ORTEGA GALLERY started harassing our dancers, mocking the songs and language,” Jackson wrote. “It was so sad to witness. We gave Gila River members that got verbally attacked as well. This man shouldn’t be selling Native American art if he doesn’t respect our Native American people.”

Blackhorse said she hopes the Navajo Nation will investigate the incident and if the Ortega family does business with the Navajo Nation. The Ortega family owns the popular hotel called The View in Monument Valley, Utah.

The Navajo Times repeatedly called Gilbert Ortega Galleries in Scottsdale, but the call kept getting dropped.

Speaker Crystalyne Curley was provided a video of the alleged incident, but she did not respond to a request for comment.

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