Tomahawk Chop

The tomahawk chop is a sports celebration most popuarly used by fans of the American Florida State University Seminoles and Kansas City Chiefs American football teams as well as the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the English Exeter Chiefs rugby union team. The action involves moving the forearm forwards and backwards repetitively with an open palm to simulate chopping. The action has caused controversy as a symbol of appropriation of Native American culture.

It is not known when the tomahawk chop was invented however, it is claimed by a former Florida State University president that it was invented by the Florida State University Marching Chiefs in the 1980s to compliment their war chants. Another report claims it was first performed in 1984 by students from the university's fraternities behind the band. The action was adopted by fans of the FSU Seminoles over the following years. Despite this, the university's board does not endorse the action stating "Some traditions we cannot control.....It's a term we did not choose and officially do not use".

The tomahawk chop was adopted by fans of the Atlanta Braves in 1991 following the signing of former FSU cornerback Deion Sanders. It was initially started by a few FSU fans in Atlanta who followed Sanders but this later grew to the whole of the Atlanta Braves' fanbase. Initially fans would hold toy tomahawks when they did the action and the Atlanta Braves started to issue foam tomahawks which became popular at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, which later earned the nicknamed of "the Chop Shop". The action continued to remain popular after Sanders had left the Atlanta Braves. From 2008 until 2016 as part of a sponsorship deal Chick-fil-A installed a 40 foot cow at Atlanta Braves' Turner Field, which would do a slow version of the tomahawk chop.

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