Josh Hader, a reliever for the Milwaukee Brewers, took responsibility for racist and homophobic tweets that were brought up again Tuesday night while he was pitching in the All-Star Game.
When Hader left the game, he found that the tweets had caused a big fuss online. After the game, he said that the posts were from when he was 17 and “immature.” He then locked his account. Some of the tweets used the n-word, and one said, “I hate gay people.”
“There’s no excuse for what was said,” Hader said. “I’m deeply sorry for what I’ve said and what’s been going on. It doesn’t reflect any of my beliefs going on now.”
If you're wondering why Brewers pitcher Josh Hader (@jhader17) just set his Twitter account to private, this could be it: pic.twitter.com/KGMw39nH49
— A.J. Perez (@byajperez) July 18, 2018
Still, Hader went on to make excuses based on his age and how much time had passed. He talked about it twice in a four-minute news conference. “what happened seven years ago.”
“We’re still learning who we are in high school. You live and you learn. This mistake won’t happen again.”
Hader also said: “I’m sure it’s some rap lyrics being tweeted. I really don’t know exactly what all’s out there.”
After he said those things, Hader tried to make things right by going to his African-American teammate and fellow NL All-Star, Lorenzo Cain, to explain what he meant.
Cain didn’t say if Hader apologized or not, and he hadn’t seen Hader’s tweets other than to know that they were “hate comments.” He did not think that Hader was a mean person.
“When anybody does something like that, you’re always surprised,”
In his first year with the Brewers, Cain made the remark. At the end of the day, you have to give people another chance, realize that you have to forgive people, and go on.
“For me, it’s over and done with. He said it; it got out there. I’m moving on from it individually, anyway.”
Hader still needs to win over his teammates, and Major League Baseball is likely to give him a strong rebuke. MLB can’t punish Hader for things that happened before he was drafted, but it could suggest that he take sensitivity training or ask him to meet with Billy Bean, the organization’s “ambassador of inclusion.”
On Tuesday night, MLB’s top lawyer, Dan Halem, said that the league might make a statement later on Wednesday.
“I’m ready for any consequences for what happened seven years ago,” Hader said.
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