The Redskins Listed the Reformed Whores in a Court Filing. So the Band Made a Song About It.

Washington’s NFL team stunned football fans this week not for any on-field antics, but for the argument it submitted to a federal court as it appeals the US Patent and Trademark Office’s 2014 decision to void the federal protection on its trademarks because they depict a racial slur. The team’s filing to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond defended its name—which is widely perceived to be a derogatory term against Native Americans—by listing numerous companies, products, and performers with blatantly provocative names.

Among the many examples mentioned in the team’s delightfully obscene filing: the Reformed Whores, a New York-based musical-comedy duo that performs satirical country songs. And, it turns out, they’re plenty capable of mounting a response of their own.

The band—comprised of Marie Cecile Anderson and Rockville native Katy Frame—uploaded their latest song to YouTube on Wednesday. The quick guitar-and-ukulele number recaps the duo’s shock at learning they were invoked in the defense of a sports team’s offensive name, along with a few rejoinders.

“We’re a delightful comedy band and musical entrepreneurs, while they’re a national football team whose name is a racial slur,” Anderson and Frame sing. “Perhaps they don’t understand our name is a form of satire, while their name is not a joke and should be thrown out by the umpire. (I think that’s baseball.)”

Attorneys for Amanda Blackhorse, the Navajo activist who brought the trademark suit against the team, are expected to file their response to the team’s foulmouthed argument by January.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.