This story was updated at 2:58 EST.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the Washington's NFL football team should not change its name, arguing that "Native American tribes generally don’t find it offensive."
"I don’t think they should change it," the Republican presidential candidate said in an interview with Sirius XM’s "The Arena" radio program, which will make its debut on Friday. "But again, I don’t think politicians ought to be having any say about that, to be honest with you. I don’t find it offensive. Native American tribes generally don’t find it offensive."
The Washington football team has contended that the team’s name is not racist as some Native American groups have argued. But the U.S. Patent and Trademark office canceled the team’s trademark, calling the name a “disparaging” term.
The comments were reported by ABC News.
Dan Snyder, the team's owner, is a donor to a Super PAC supporting Bush's presidential bid.
Perhaps worth noting that Dan Snyder made a $100,000 donation to Jeb Bush's super PAC earlier this year (via @ZacBoyer)— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) September 30, 2015
Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the DNC, said Bush's support of the team name is "extremely insulting to Native American people and is one of many reasons he will not earn the Native American vote."
"The team’s name is a racial slur that perpetuates negative stereotypes of Native American people, and reduces proud cultures to an insulting caricature," Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.
"Over the past few weeks, Jeb Bush has shown a shocking disregard for America’s diverse society," she added. "So much for the Republican Party’s plan to appeal to minorities."
According to ABC News, Bush likened the debate over the NFL team name to the NCAA's 2005 decision to allow Florida State University to keep the nickname, "Seminoles." At the time Bush said, "The folks that make these decisions need to get out more often."
Bush also weighed in on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s leadership, saying that the NFL is a "private enterprise" and that "they ought to have as much freedom to do what they want."
"This is a brand that is hugely powerful, hugely successful, has grown under the tenure of Roger Goodell, but it can be hurt by these incidents -- whether it’s domestic violence, the concussion issue is a huge legal challenge, Deflategate -- I never quite understood what the big fuss was, but nevertheless," Bush continued. "All these things matter, and so creating a process to show that you’re transparent and open, willing to listen to other sides of the story, I think all that’s important. It’s just part of being a leader."