Considering the times we are living in, maybe they were afraid of being called racist or bigoted? (half joking)
"White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) is a term for an elite social class of powerful white Americans of British Protestant ancestry.
WASPs often trace their ancestry to the colonial period. The term is often used as a pejorative to attack their historical dominance over the financial, cultural, academic, and legal institutions of the United States.[1][2]"==Wikipedia
Different beasties.