Overview
- President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the U.S. Interior Department to update the federal Geographic Names Information System to use “Lake America” for Lake Ontario and told reporters the change was effective immediately.
- Al Michaels made a joke about the order during Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football preseason broadcast of the Browns vs. Patriots, using aerial shots of Cleveland and telling viewers to “read the news.”
- Kirk Herbstreit declined to expand on the remark on air and the clip from the broadcast circulated widely online within hours.
- Canadian federal and provincial leaders publicly rejected the U.S. name change and said they will continue to call the body of water Lake Ontario, underscoring that the order has no force in Canada.
- Reaction on social media and in commentary outlets was mixed, there are no reported disciplinary actions against Michaels or Amazon, and the move follows a recent pattern of this administration pursuing federal geographic-name changes that could deepen U.S.-Canada tensions.