Fox News host Bill O'Reilly suggested the name of Washington, D.C.'s NFL franchise was not offensive to the Native American community and said he'd like to poll them to confirm this. In fact, a recent poll found that an overwhelming majority of Native Americans consider the Washington franchise's name to be racist.

On the May 14 edition of his Fox News show, O'Reilly discussed Senator Harry Reid's (D-NV) recent criticism of the NFL for suspending quarterback Tom Brady while ignoring what he described as Washington's “racist” NFL team name. O'Reilly mocked Reid's criticism and questioned how offensive the name really was to Native Americans, saying, “the intent of it is the noble fighter, all right?”:

O'REILLY: I just think it's so ridiculous to bring up the Redskins. I'd really like to have a poll, and this is serious, among Native Americans. You know, to poll them and to see do you really think the Washington Redskins is racist? Really? I mean, you know, the intent of it is the noble fighter, all right? If you look at the logo and that you know, the Cleveland Indians. I don't know.

In 2014, a California State University, San Bernardino sociology professor did poll the Native American community on the topic. The poll found that 67 percent of Native Americans believe the NFL team's name is “racist.”

In addition, many Native Americans have spoken out against the name. In 2014, thousands of Native Americans in Minnesota protested against the team's name. In January, the Oneida Indian Nation and the National Congress of American Indians started a campaign “asking NFL fans to petition league leaders to change the Washington Redskins nickname.”

And Rep. Tom Cole, an Oklahoma Republican and a Native American, has also spoken out against the name, saying, “It is very, very, very offensive. This isn't like warriors or chiefs. It's not a term of respect, and it's needlessly offensive to a large part of our population.”