Controversial Tweets Come Back to Haunt 2nd and 3rd MLB Players This Month
Twitter, at this point, should come with a Miranda warning.
After all, in today’s sports and political landscape, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion.
But at some point, you have to wonder if Skynet or the Russians or the Deep State (depending on your own personal political bent) isn’t programming robots to go through the Twitter accounts of people they don’t like for no better reason than to dredge up anything, no matter from how long ago or how obscure, to gin up a scandal.
Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers leaps immediately to mind. He was Patient Zero for this epidemic after all, and found himself apologizing for tweets he made when he was 17, an age when even the most “woke” out there often haven’t learned yet that overt public racism tends to be frowned upon by polite society.
Well, it seems Hader’s not alone in the purgatory of ancient sins.
Sean Newcomb of the Atlanta Braves was caught in the blast radius over the weekend and apologized Sunday for tweets the 25-year-old made when he was much younger, according to a report from ESPN.
Barely an hour after nearly pitching a no-hitter against the Dodgers, someone had dredged up Newcomb’s use of a racial slur quoted from a rap lyric, along with some tweets that attacked the gay community.
And instead of talking about one of the best pitching performances of the year, Newcomb instead ended up talking about ancient history.
“I just wanted to apologize for any insensitive material,” Newcomb said. “It was a long time ago, six or seven years ago, saying some stupid stuff with friends.
“I know I’ve grown a lot since then. I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just something stupid I did a long time ago, and I didn’t mean anything by it, for sure.”
Major League Baseball, of course, had to respond as well.
“Such inappropriate comments have no place in our game. We are aware of this serious issue. Billy Bean will meet with Mr. Newcomb this week, and we will identify an appropriate course of diversity training in the Atlanta community,”
Bean holds the title of “vice president for social responsibility and inclusion” — an almost literal example of the PC police — and is himself openly gay.
Said Bean in a statement, “We find the tweets hurtful and incredibly disappointing, and even though he was 18 or 19 years old when posted, it doesn’t make them any less tolerable. We will work together with Sean toward mending the wounds created in our community.”
Newcomb isn’t the only one in hot water with the Woke Cops.
Trea Turner of the Nationals, also 25, likewise had his own insensitive past raked out of the muck and used to stir some controversy.
When he was 18, Turner also tweeted language that included a gay slur, anti-gay remarks, and a racism cherry for the sundae.
And, of course, he apologized as well.
“There are no excuses for my insensitive and offensive language on Twitter,” Turner, now 25, said. “I am sincerely sorry for those tweets and apologize wholeheartedly. I believe people who know me understand those regrettable actions do not reflect my values or who I am. But I understand the hurtful nature of such language and am sorry to have brought any negative light to the Nationals organization, myself or the game I love.”
Nationals manager Mike Rizzo stood by his player, invoking the that-was-then-this-is-now defense on behalf of Turner.
Rizzo did say the tweets from the 2016 Rookie of the Year runner-up were “inexcusable” but then went on to say that Turner “has been a good teammate and model citizen in our clubhouse, and these comments are not indicative of how he has conducted himself while part of our team.”
That makes three nearly identical cases of young ballplayers, young enough to have been in high school when Twitter and social media started to come of age, who are having tweets made during those formative years dragged into the 2018 limelight and used to vilify them.
The question now is not whether one’s past should be held to that tight of a standard — if that’s the case, we’re all in trouble — but who on earth has the free time and the agenda to drag all this stuff out now?
The PC police are on the warpath. We can only wonder who’s going to be targeted next.
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