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Leaders push to remove John Wayne name, statue from airport

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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — In the latest move to change place names in light of U.S. racial history, leaders of Orange County’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film legend John Wayne’s name, statue and other likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments.

The Los Angeles Times reports that earlier this week, officials passed an emergency resolution condemning Wayne’s “racist and bigoted statements” made in a 1971 interview and are calling on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to drop his name, statue and other likenesses from the international airport.

In the Playboy magazine interview, Wayne makes bigoted statements against Black people, Native Americans and the LGBTQ community.