The Biden campaign acknowledged on Wednesday that it had altered an image aired in a CNN documentary "Fight for the White House: Joe Biden's Long Journey", claiming that the Washington Redskins logo was removed to avoid copyright complaints, The Washington Post reported.
Attentive viewers of the film earlier noticed the absence of the football team logo on the hat of a young Joe Biden in arms of his father.
"The practice of removing copyrighted material from candidate ads is “a very common practice on campaigns,” an unnamed Biden campaign aide said, cited by The WaPo.
CNN, however, asserted that the photo it aired was put into the documentary in the form that the network received it from the Biden campaign. According to the broadcaster, initially cited by Washingtonian Magazine, it had no idea the image was edited. A CNN spokesperson told the magazine that future airings of the film will only include the original image.
Biden happened to post the undoctored photo earlier in his Facebook, congratulating the followers on Father's Day.
The Washington Redskins brand became a target for debate earlier in the summer, as the team faced pressure to change its name in the wake of anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd. The club eventually gave in to demands, ending an era of some 80 years of criticism for a name that has been seen by some as racist and offensive toward Native Americans.
