President Donald Trump became the target of on-air ridicule during an Amazon presentation game on Thursday night, and MAGA supporters are not happy about it.

During the Patriots-Browns broadcast in Cleveland, 81-year-old broadcaster Al Michaels commented on Trump's recent decision to rename Lake Ontario to Lake America. When the cameras showed a wide shot of the stadium and the surrounding waterfront neighborhood, Michaels remarked: "That is Lake Erie. We think it is still called Lake Erie ... We're not quite sure at this point. But we'll be by Lake something like Ontario or whatever it's going to be called by the time we get to Buffalo. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about... Read the news."

Michaels is one of the most familiar voices in American sports broadcasting, with a career spanning more than five decades that includes decades calling NFL primetime games and signature moments such as the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" Olympic hockey call. He has served as the play-by-play voice of Amazon Prime Video's Thursday Night Football since the streaming service took over the package in 2022, a shift that itself reflected the league's move of marquee broadcasts from traditional network television.

Fox News documented the ensuing MAGA anger, with some critics claiming that Michaels now suffers from "Trump Derangement Syndrome."

"NFL fans don't want to watch Trump-hating, America-last announcers. Al Michaels must apologize," one fan wrote on X.

"He should be grateful to live in a country that would pay someone who is barely alive millions to butcher a football game," added another.

"Remember when Bob Costas tried to get political in 2012 about gun control and he managed to piss off pretty much every person and the nation ..." said a third.

"Al Michaels mocked President Trump and America during tonight's NFL preseason Thursday Night Football game on Amazon, featuring the Cleveland Browns vs. the New England Patriots … NFL fans don't want to watch Trump-hating, America-last announcers. Al Michaels must apologize," said Laura Loomer ally Charles R. Downs.

One Arizona resident replied to Downs: "I'm a MAGA guy, but this renaming s–– is f—– stupid and alienating anyone one the fence."

The exchange echoes earlier episodes in which sports commentary has collided with politics, including Costas's 2012 gun-control remarks during an NFL broadcast and, more recently, ESPN's "Monday Night Football" contract with conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, which ended after his remarks about Donovan McNabb in 2003 — incidents cited by fans as precedent for why announcers who wade into politics often face backlash.

HeatMap correspondent Matthew Zeitlin commented that the broadcast booth is an "R+100" area — campaign-style language used to describe whether a district leans Democratic or Republican. In this case, he was saying that everyone in that booth was a Republican.

The Fox author, Zach Dean, made a similar point, noting that Michaels "has a long history" of donating to Republicans and GOP causes.

"If anyone is actually mad at this, you probably need to take a good look in the mirror and reassess some things. For years, all I heard was 'liberals don't laugh enough!' Let's not be one of them," Dean wrote.

He added: "You can be a Republican and still admit that Trump changing the name of a lake on a random Thursday in August with war raging in the east and the primaries two months away is, objectively, hilarious. And dumb. Both things can be true."

Al Michaels: "That is Lake Erie. We think it is still called Lake Erie... We're not quite sure at this point. But we'll be by Lake something like Ontario or whatever it's going to be called by the time we get to Buffalo. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about... Read the news." pic.twitter.com/zqOHbR7sST — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 28, 2026