Ethnic References in Branding and AI Content Moderation: From the Ajax 'Jews' to the Washington Redskins and Beyond

Abstract

Sports teams sometimes adopt names — and fans sometimes adopt team nicknames — that might be viewed as derogatory epithets targeting a particular racial, ethnic, or religious group, but which serve as a badge of honor for team fans or even for members of the targeted group. How does and should trademark law address such uses, particular uses of derogatory epithets that are “reclaimed” as badges of honor by a minority group? How do AI content moderation tools account for social media user postings that feature hate speech or reclaimed epithets, whether as sport team names or otherwise? And, to put those questions into their broader framework: how is regulation, whether through formal law or AI, to account for semiotic fluidity, the variable meaning of words over different temporal, spatial, and social contexts?

My essay is inspired by the Ajax “Jews”, a phenomenon I learned of when Bernt Hugenholtz told me about it some 25 years ago.

Keywords: P. Bernt Hugenholtz, sports law, derogatory epithets, trademark law, social media, AI, cyberlaw