Why do KC Chiefs do the ‘tomahawk chop’? Here’s the history behind controversial tradition
It comes at the beginning of every Chiefs home game.
First, they bring out the big drum, then the music hits and the fans begin to chant, moving their arms back and forth in unison.
The tomahawk chop has been a Chiefs tradition since the 1980s. In the time since it’s become synonymous with the Chiefs. Sometimes the Chiefs faithful will do the chop at away games, at Chiefs bars and sometimes even at weddings.
But the tradition is also controversial, with some members of the Native American community raising concerns that it trivializes Native American culture and is a racially insensitive caricature that ought to be left in the 20th century.
What is the chop?
The tomahawk chop started at Florida State University in the 1980s, when the school’s marching band did the chant and it caught on with the crowd, though an Atlanta Braves staffer in the 1990s said the Braves originated the “terminology” of the tomahawk chop.
It was introduced to Chiefs fans during a home game on Nov. 18, 1990 by the Northwest Missouri State University marching band, which was directed by a Florida State alumni.
“The band started doing the tomahawk chop and the players and Marty Schottenheimer loved it,” Phil Thomas, the Chiefs promotions director at the time told the Associated Press, referring to the team’s head coach at the time. “He came back to us and said ‘why don’t we have these guys at every game?’”
It soon proved very popular with Chiefs fans. The Associated Press noted that the stadium broke out the chant several times during a Monday Night Football game in 1991, in an article that noted that all three teams that used the chop – Florida State, the Braves and the Chiefs – seemed to be having banner years as the chop spread across the country.
Part of its spread may have come from its simplicity. Fans move their arms back and forth while joining in a stadium-wide chant. The Chiefs have asked fans to use a closed fist for the chopping motion, but it hasn’t caught on completely at Arrowhead Stadium.
Why is it controversial?
Native American groups have protested the chop, saying it’s offensive because it trivializes indigenous culture.
The Kansas City Indian Center has asked the team to change its name and stop doing the chop, as have Native Americans at Haskell Indian Nations University, in Lawrence.
In 2023, the Kansas City Indian Center took out billboards in Kansas City, saying “change the name and stop the chop” and directing people toward the website endracismkc.com.
The Chiefs attempted to address the controversy by creating an American Indian Community Working Group. The Chiefs now hold a ceremonial blessing of the drum – which is banged during the chop – and have banned headdresses and face paint from the stadium.
“The Chiefs are committed to ensuring that our actions as a club honor American Indians,” the team says on its website. “We remain grateful for the candid and constructive conversations with the members of the Working Group and other leaders in the American Indian community that have helped us eradicate the racially insensitive practices of the past.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2025 at 11:26 AM.
