Actor Nick Offerman: Get Rid Of Minooka Indians Mascot

MINOOKA, IL — Nick Offerman, the world-famous celebrity from Minooka, is urging school officials from his hometown to get rid of the Minooka Indians mascot because "Native Americans depicted as sports mascots is clearly racist," he wrote.

Offerman is one of 6,612 people who have signed the online petition at Change.org called Change Minooka Community High School's Mascot.

After signing the petition, Offerman posted the following comments: "This is a no-brainer," Offerman wrote. "Native Americans depicted as sports mascots is clearly racist, as evidenced by the much larger, substantial arguments against mascots like that of The Cleveland Indians and The Washington Redskins."

Offerman, known for his role as Ron Swanson on the hit television series "Parks and Recreation," is an award-winning actor, writer, woodworker and comedian.

Offerman earned a Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Comedy for his role on "Parks and Recreation" and was a two-time nominee for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

He also received a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries for his role as Karl Weathers in the TV series "Fargo."

"Any argument claiming that these mascots actually cast the Native Peoples in a positive light are disingenuous and shameful," Offerman told his 1.7 million Twitter followers Saturday. "I would hope that the Minooka school system would be proudly forward-thinking in this question of social justice, instead of dragging their heels in our nation’s history of bigotry and deafness to such obvious discrimination."

Meanwhile, the online petition to keep the Minooka Indians as the school mascot only had 2,6116 signatures as of 9 p.m. Sunday.