Native American Actress Complains About Chiefs Fans Doing Historic Tradition, Completely Misses The Point

Actress Lily Gladstone wants people to know she's very offended by Kansas City Chiefs fans doing the Tomahawk chop.

The Tomahawk chop is done by a handful of major college and pro teams with the Chiefs, Florida State Seminoles and Atlanta Braves being the most notable.

The chop is done to intimidate opponents, and let's be honest, a stadium chanting it prior to kickoff is awesome and downright chilling under the lights.

Just don't tell any of this to Lily Gladstone.

The "Killers of the Flower Moon" star told Variety the following:

"Honestly, you could hold both teams accountable. The 49ers are based on the California Gold Rush, which was an incredibly brutal time for California Indians. And then the Chiefs. There are many ways that you could interpret the name ‘chief.’ It’s not the name that bothers me. It’s hearing that damn Tomahawk chop. Every time, it’s a stark reminder of what Hollywood has done to us, because the Tomahawk chop directly ties to the sounds of old Westerns where we were not playing ourselves, or if we were, we were merely backdrop actors. It’s this ‘claiming’ of that sound and saying it’s in ‘honor’ and the commodification of who we are as people. It’s great to love the game and your players, but it still hurts."

Lily Gladstone offended by Chiefs fans doing Tomahawk chop. (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

Lily Gladstone isn't impressed with Tomahawk chop.

While people are welcome to have any opinion they want on literally any subject - this is America, after all - Gladstone is way off base with her assessment.

The Tomahawk chop has nothing to do with "ties to the sounds of old Westerns where we were not playing ourselves." It's pretty straightforward and simple.

Native Americans back in the day during the time of Western expansion and war on the Plains carried and used Tomahawk axes.

HawkThrowing.com gives us the following history lesson:

"The tomahawks originated from the Algonquian Indians in Native America. The term tomahawk was derived from the Algonquian words "tamahak" or "tamahakan." The Native American Indians regularly used tomahawks made from stone heads which were attached to wooden handles secured by strips of rawhide. They used tomahawks for general uses such as hunting, chopping, cutting, or mainly as a weapon."

It has nothing to do with old movies, and to pretend Native Americans didn't carry axes is simply false. Not only is it false, but it's so wrong that it's hard to believe she was just accidentally sharing misinformation.

A simple Google search would have told Gladstone that Native Americans often used Tomahawks in combat and for other various reasons. In fact, the Tomahawk was such a popular weapon that Natives posed with them for photos just like people do with weapons now.

Native Americans used Tomahawks. (Credit: Public Domain/Library of Congress Catalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/2007682405 Image download: https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3a40000/3a42000/3a42000/3a42040r.jpg Original url: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2007682405/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Tomahawks#/media/File:Bone_Neck_Lace_LCCN2007682405_(cropped).jpg/

Furthermore, Native Americans were fierce warriors. The Comanche were perhaps the most feared warriors during expansion west. They were brutal in combat and must be respected in battle.

You know what the Comanche used in battle? Axes. It's really not hard to figure out what the Tomahawk chop means or why it's popular.

Lily Gladstone has an issue with the Tomahawk chop. (Photo by William Purnell/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Fans do it because it's badass and is meant to honor the warrior spirit of Native Americans. People are free to hate it, love it, do it, not do it or fall somewhere else on the spectrum. However, facts and history matter, and Gladstone just ignored the simple reality of the chop. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.