Josh Hader is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers and widely considered by many to be a rising star in MLB thanks, in part, to his powerful fastball. Or rather he was considered a rising star in MLB until his antigay past recently came back to haunt him.
Hader’s troubles began after a series of racist, sexist, and homophobic he had written back in 2011 and 2012 resurfaced during last week’s All Star game against the Seattle Mariners.
.@jhader17 made his account private, but we have the receipts. pic.twitter.com/QOv2G3rbAl
— queer #FancyStats ????? (@queerfancystats) July 18, 2018
“I was just 17 years old. I was a child,” the 24-year-old athlete said during an emergency press conference shortly after the tweets resurfaced. “I was immature and I said some things that were inexcusable. It does not reflect on the person I am today.”
He continued, “Obviously when you’re a kid you tweet what’s on your mind. There’s no excuse for what was said. I’m deeply sorry for what was said.”
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But not everyone has been quick to accept Hader’s hasty apology.
On Thursday night, the Brewers played the Giants in San Francisco. When Hader jogged out to the mound, rather than the standing ovation he’s grown accustomed to, he was received with loud boos from the crowd.
Chorus of boos for Josh Hader here in San Francisco.
It's Hader's first road game since his racist and homophobic tweets surfaced. pic.twitter.com/3m0oqKgyPp
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) July 27, 2018
Afterwards, Hader was asked about being booed by the crowd.
“I can’t let my mistakes distract me from doing my job,” he said. “I don’t like what I said back then and obviously regret what came out.”
He added, “We live and learn as human beings. We’re not perfect. You learn from what you do and become a better person from it.”
Hader has been ordered to participate in both sensitivity training and inclusion initiatives.
Related: Internet flooded with racist, homophobic tweets written by pitcher Josh Hader during All-Star game
Loldemort
It#s time for you to stop pretending to be a gay publication and start admitting that you’re a socialist publication riding the gay horse in order to destroy society. Wedon’t belong to you and you don’t represent us or speak for us. You aren’t our thought leaders because we can think for ourselves.
JK 1984
If you don’t like what they are providing, there are plenty of other places to get your daily fix of soft news and half naked men pictures.
Ukin Blome
Oh No, caught with my pants down. Just when I thought I had Y’all fooled.
Jack Meoff
What a load of drivel. What are you on about just stop visiting the page if it offends you.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Have you notified the authorities to inform them someone is forcing you to visit this site????
tham
Da comrade.
Heywood Jablowme
So what’s your opinion of this baseball player? Try to stay on topic. 🙂
Tête Carrée
Fugly
tham
Very fugly
Agent9902
I think he’s breathtaking!
I admire him for admitting his mistake and asking for understanding and compassion.
For that, he’s a descent guy.
Will L
Uh, no. If he had removed the posts BEFORE they came to light, he might be a decent guy. He didn’t apologize until they began to endanger his livelihood. He wasn’t very pro-active in correcting himself.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Definitely “breathtaking”, as in making me gag…..
Donston
“Breathtaking”? Why are there so many pathetic, no self-respect having faags? They’re just as bad as the people who whine and pull out pitchforks over every incident. Also, we really need to stop giving people credit for simply not being hateful or owning up to mistakes when they’re cornered.
Ultimately, I’m over policing people’s beliefs and thoughts, and I’m not going to forever hold something over someone’s head they said at 17. Still, this was ultimately about PR control.
JK 1984
I’m willing to give things guy a second chance.
Yes he has says some stupid sh**, but that was when he was 1 7. I said things just as bad or possibly even worse when I was that age (racism, sexism, even homophobia), I’m just lucky there was no social media back then so it was limited to the friends I knew back then. I cringe when I think of some of the things I said and think very differently now.
What he does going forward is what I’m interested in. If he had kept saying stuff like that as an adult, that is different and I have a lot less time for adults unless they show genuine change.
jgfromdc
Agree with the past couple of comments. He was just a stupid kid. Gimme a break Queerty
tham
He didn’t hurt me with those tweets…however, the gay kids who went to his school at the time (and there was gay kids at his school at that time)…
Well…it’s hard to forgive someone who Is “apologizing” to me, and not the people who he hurt.
You want me to say he’s forgiven…he needs to apologize to the gay kids he grow up with…until then, it’s BS PR stunt.
NOUHAVENT
Being 17 isn’t an excuse. It’s 2018: not 1950’s. He has no excuse to be a racist at any age or homophobic.
Ukin Blome
If he truly is sorry he can make an apology tour the Christian way, on his knees!
Jack Meoff
He has only admitted to being stupid for saying what he said in those tweets and he has only regretted getting caught out. He has not actually said that he was wrong or that he no longer feels that way. This is just another BS damage control exercise that his teams PR people will be orchestrating to save his and the teams reputation. When he and all the other celebs in similar situations do or say something meaningful to show true change and regret only then are they worth forgiving.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I’ll have a pizza with the works
To go??
Naw, on my face…..
Heywood Jablowme
Yeah, have to admit I feel a bit sorry for him. That’s a BAD case of acne for an adult.
PinkoOfTheGange
I am more curious why he wrote it in the 1st place.
Tête Carrée
Having read his other offensive tweets (click the link), he appears to be semi-illiterate and extremely stupid. It’s a aberration that a person who should rightfully pass their life as a toilet scrubber will make millions playing a child’s game while gay kids are still resorting to suicide because of attitudes like his. No forgiveness you pussies.
marq
Only in the USA could “I was only 17, I was only a kid” not be considered a very weird excuse and it’s getting worse. Maybe in a few more years it will be “I was only 26, I was only a kid”.
JessPH
He’s not sorry for what he tweeted. He’s sorry that he was not able to delete them before someone noticed them.
“I was just 17 years old. I was a child,”
When i was 17, i wasn’t spewing racist and homophobic stuff online.
vegastun
In Maryland you can get married at 17 with parental consent, hold a provisional license, graduate, etc you are by no means still a child. A 17 year old is old enough to know better, using this as an excuse is just a means to not take ownership for his actions. If Josh had younger siblings and one was hit by a 17 year old drink driver would he then agree the 17 year old is a child and therefore should not be held accountable for their actions and as a child and didn’t understand right from wrong?
Luis
Why can’t you give the guy a break?
He doesn’t agree now with what he said:
He knows it’t not acceptable:
He apologised:
What else do you need?
DrBen
I don’t think God is happy, throwing the boy a skin problem curve ball. But I agree with others: see the errors of your ways, admit it and move on.
lovelandbiguy
Hader attended Old Mill High School in Millersville, Maryland. Has he reached out to any of the approximately 500 members of the class of 2012 to apologize personally? If and when he does, that’s when he will really understand what the impact of his hate speech was and how his celebrity status among the “jocks” can change so many peoples’ lives.
James
WHAT DOES HE DO FOR GAY PEOPLE NOW.
QuestBear
So, I’m confused by this entire topic. Are we supposed to hate this man because he made an ignorant comment when he was 17? How many other people made stupid comments when they were teens? I bet many of the subscribers here did. Thankfully we did not have social media when I was younger. So, because he made a mistake when he was a kid, his life should be ruined now? Damn, the community of underdogs has really become quite the hate-mongers themselves.
Deleting my account. I guess my comment will be flagged as mean-spirited because it doesn’t jump on the bandwagon of hating the straights.