In this undated photo, John Wayne appears during the filming of “The Horse Soldiers.” In the latest move to change place names in light of U.S. racial history, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments.
In this undated photo, John Wayne appears during the filming of “The Horse Soldiers.” In the latest move to change place names in light of U.S. racial history, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments. AP
Herb Scribner

By Herb Scribner

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John Wayne Airport has seen calls to change its names over racist and bigoted remarks from the western movie star, according to The Associated Press.

What’s going on?

  • Orange County’s Democratic Party has pushed for the airport to drop John Wayne’s name, likeness and statues from the airport because of the western movie star’s racist and bigoted remarks, according to The Los Angeles Times.
  • Officials passed an emergency resolution that slammed Wayne’s “racist and bigoted statements” that were reportedly made in a 1971 interview with Playboy magazine, where he “makes bigoted statements against Black people, Native Americans and the LGBTQ community.” per The Associated Press.
  • The resolution called for the board to rename the airport to its original name — Orange County Airport.
  • Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said: “There have been past efforts to get this done and now we’re putting our name and our backing into this to make sure there is a name change.”
  • According to The Associated Press, officials said the effort to change the name is a part of “a national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names (that are) reshaping American institutions, monuments, businesses, nonprofits, sports leagues and teams.”

President Trump responds to John Wayne controversy

  • President Donald Trump blasted Democrats over the call to remove John Wayne’s name from the airport.
  • Trump said: “Can anyone believe that Princeton just dropped the name of Woodrow Wilson from their highly respected policy center. Now the Do Nothing Democrats want to take off the name John Wayne from an airport. Incredible stupidity!”
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