MLB pitcher gets standing ovation after racist, homophobic tweets went viral

[RandySF]

A Milwaukee Brewers pitcher received a standing ovation on Saturday at his first game after a series of his past racist, sexist and homophobic tweets surfaced.

The crowd at Milwaukee’s Miller Park gave Josh Hader a standing ovation as he took the mound against the Los Angeles Dodgers, video from the game shows.

During last Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game, screenshots of Hader’s years-old tweets from his protected account went viral, including one that read: “I hate gay people" and another that said "White power lol."

In a post-game press conference on Tuesday, Hader apologized and said he was “ready for any consequences” for the tweets, which were posted in 2011 and 2012, when he was a high school student.
“There’s no excuse for what was said,” Hader told reporters. “I’m deeply sorry for what I said and what’s been going on. It doesn’t reflect any of my beliefs now.”

“I was in high school,” he added. “We’re still learning who we are. I was in high school. You live and you learn. This mistake won’t happen again.”


http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/398264-mlb-pitcher-gets-standing-ovation-at-first-game-after-racist?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

[Agschmid]

1. Ugh.

[Squinch]

2. That was the beleaguered rural voters expressing their economic fears.

[Wounded Bear]

3. It sounds to me like they were applauding his apology, not the tweets...

maybe that's just me, but have we totally lost the ability to allow growth?

[True Dough]

7. Good point, Wounded Bear

He made those hateful tweets when he was 17. He's 24 now. He seems sincere in his regret and apology. His black and Hispanic teammates have said they accept his remorse and they're moving on. I don't see the benefit in vilifying this particular individual.

[PSPS]

9. I agree. They were applauding his apology, which was refreshingly sincere.

[Snackshack]

14. Agreed

[Laffy Kat]

26. There may have been a little bit of both...

I do believe we need to give the benefit of the doubt while still keeping an eye out. If he's truly sorry, he's really going to have to walk the walk now.

[Wounded Bear]

29. Well, one thing about being a professional athlete...

he has to live, travel, and work (play games) with blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and most likely some LGBT folks every day.

Hard to do that and maintain the level of bigotry exposed in the messages. It's not combat, but the level of cohesion necessary on a team is pretty high. If he was really disruptive, the team would dump him.

[Laffy Kat]

30. I sure hope they would. nt

[Ferrets are Cool]

27. You are correct.

I DO hope he has had a major change of heart.

[eleny]

35. Joy Reid was forgiven so I'm good with his apology which sounded correct

[MrScorpio]

4. Remind me to stay out of Wisconsin

[Roland99]

5. No wonder Walker became Gov

[Phoenix61]

6. I'm much more concerned about the adults

applauding him than I am about what he thought when he was in high-school.

[pintobean]

8. Perhaps they were applauding his apology

and his growth as a man. High school can be a cruel place and time, with a lot of peer pressure.

[PSPS]

11. Of course they were. DU is famous for knee-jerk conclusion jumping usually not reading an article

[cyclonefence]

17. You have to be careful how you word the title of your post

because 8 out of ten responses will be to the title, not the text. Only about half of DU, it seems to me, bothers to read the actual post.

[TubbersUK]

20. That's what I thought too n/t

[Ohiogal]

10. Hard to determine if they were applauding his hate tweets or his apology.

[PSPS]

12. No, it's not hot hard at all.

[oberliner]

13. Perhaps "after sincere, heartfelt apology went viral" would also be appropriate to mention

[mythology]

16. But that would get in the way of the spin

[cwydro]

22. Yup.

DU loves a good narrative. Facts be damned.

[muntrv]

15. A John Rocker wannabe?

[Blue_true]

18. Randy, he was a 17 year old kid.

He is 7 years older and has lived in a much more diverse world during most of those 7 years.

Normally you are really great with on target posts, but I think you misfired on this one.

[vercetti2021]

19. Probably an applause for his apology

If he was quick and sincere about it, then I assume it was for that.

If he didn't apologize, I'd imagine it would have been flipped around and booed

[SpankMe]

21. They were supposedly applauding Hader's apology

...giving him a "that's OK - we know you were young and you're sorry, and we're moving on" acknowledgement.

Bear in mind that 75% of all white American teen boys are racist, homophobic, xenophobic, angry-for-no-good-reason little pricks who can't see the world any further away than the tips of their dicks. Most I know are little Archie Bunkers with little to no impulse control or filters. I'm shocked that most college students are progressive even now, when many were little Archie Bunkers just a couple of years earlier.

Unless they have a diverse spread of friends (minorities, LGBT, etc.) with whom they can sympathize, or parents who are teaching them tolerance from an early age, they tend to be non-thinking, reactive, closed-minded little fuckstains.

As the maitre d' in Ferris Bueller's Day Off said "I weep for the future".

Maybe Hader is OK and he was just trying to fit in with the bigoted wolf pack. I'm inclined to give folks a little bit of rope for stuff they said as kids under the influence of others. As he gets to become "his own man", I'll have to see some tangible actions of open mindedness before I totally trash him out.

[disenfranchised]

25. I have trouble believing that they were applauding the apology

The boo black NFL players that kneel to protest police violence against unarmed black men and then give a standing ovation in this situation? I have trouble believing a lot of those people cheering were not racist. How is a person of color or someone who is gay supposed to feel when they see this ovation? In the videos I watched, I didn't see anyone but white people standing...I would like to be wrong.

It is one thing to give a second chance--which he deserves--but another to give a standing ovation.

[USALiberal]

23. I said some inappropriate things at 17 also. nt

[dembotoz]

24. Brewer fan can and will forgive.. as long as he is not a bears fan

[PoorMonger]

28. Barf.

I read that my Rockies also drafted some young turd who has been posting racist anti Obama things since he was in high school. Hoping he never makes the roster - and if he does I’ll never cheer for him

[YOHABLO]

31. I think he made an erudite comment about the evolution of self knowledge and learning.

Physically and mentally we are still growing and developing way into our 20s, if not our entire lives, for that matter. Apology accepted.

[left-of-center2012]

32. Does not explain where they went viral

"During last Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game,
screenshots of Hader’s years-old tweets from his protected account went viral"

[Garrett78]

33. His apology seems sincere, and it sounds like he's matured.

He grew up in a small, rural town and it's not at all surprising that he expressed such views back when he was 17 or 18 years old. While I was always strongly anti-racist, I regret to say I was homophobic in my teens. That had much to do with my upbringing but there's no real excuse aside from the fact that I was young and ignorant in a society brimming with ignorance.

I might give Hader less slack if I knew the full context of "white power lol" (whereas the other tweet is pretty straightforward), but the bottom line is that he seems to have seen the error of his ways.

[Liberalhammer]

34. A lot of brewers fans

Are from the white flight suburbs. Trump racists all the way. Being from Milwaukee id put my money on that they could care less about his racism and homophobia.