Cody Blackbird
A regional Arizona shop owner disrupted an ESPN shoot today to mock Native American entertainers — while shouting, “MAGA country” — and the entire racist tirade is on video.
Cody Blackbird — who’s of Cherokee/Dakota descent, and was among the Native American entertainers employed by ESPN for the Super Bowl promo — informs TMZ a man called Gilbert Ortega began teasing the dancers from the front of his fashion jewelry shop Tuesday in downtown Scottsdale.
We’re informed Ortega was imitating their motions and chants — in a demeaning method — which triggered some in the group to come over and face him while recording.
TMZ acquired some video footage of the fight, and it reveals Ortega was out there to provoke and posture … calling the Native Americans “f**king Indians,” conjuring up MAGA and informing them to return to Gallup, NM, which is house to a popular appointment.
Ortega even came out for a tense in person with the group at one point … on an attempt to state what he was stating to their faces. So, yeah … he was trying to find problem and attempting to get under the entertainers’ skin. Unfortunately, he prospered.
Luckily, there was no violence … Ortega was blended away by a good friend, and the entire thing died after he returned into his facility — a company, BTW, that paradoxically offers Native American products.
Some members of the Native American group were distressed enough to get in touch with polices to grumble. The Scottsdale Police Dept. informs us they’re examining the event as “possible disorderly conduct” … and, currently, they do not see anything that increases to the level of a hate criminal offense. That’s subject to alter based upon the examination.