Chiefs Ban Fans From Wearing Headdresses, Reviewing 'Arrowhead Chop'

The Chiefs have banned fans from wearing headdresses and face paint that "is styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures."

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Chiefs have banned fans from wearing headdresses and face paint that "is styled in a way that references or appropriates American Indian cultures," the team announced Thursday. 

The team announced several new policies Thursday, citing recent conversations with the American Indian Community Working Group.

Kansas City also said it is "engaged in a thorough review process of the Arrowhead Chop" and is "exploring all options for a modified engagement moment from the Drum Deck."

The changes made by the Chiefs come just over a month after the Washington NFL team removed its nickname. Native American leaders and activists had long called for the changing of the Washington mascot, which the franchise has used since 1933.

Kansas City's nickname is not based on any indigenous histories, but instead is derived from a a fictional tribe within the Boy Scouts of America created in 1925 by the would-be Kansas City Mayor Harold Roe Bartle.

When the team moved from Dallas to Kansas City, the team was named after Bartle's nickname, "The Chief."

“It's absolutely farcical,” Vincent Schilling, an associate editor of Indian Country Today and member of the Saint Regis Mohawk tribe, told WBUR in February, referring to Chiefs fans' appropriation of Native American culture. “It's stereotypical and it has nothing to do with honoring Native people.”

The Chiefs, who beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl in February, recently announced they would allow fans at 22% of capacity when they kick off their season Sept. 10 against the Texans.