Pride Toronto director says Blue Jays have opportunity after Anthony Bass apology
Pride Toronto executive director Sherwin Modeste feels the Toronto Blue Jays have an opportunity to turn a player's negative action into a positive.
Blue Jays reliever Anthony Bass apologized Tuesday for expressing support on social media for anti-2SLGBTQ+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light. A day earlier, he shared an Instagram post urging others to spurn the companies over the support they showed for the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
"I think (the team can) just continue to do what is right and continue to respect diversity and continue to spread love, continue to show their support for the 2SLGBTQ community," Modeste said.
"But at the same time, they also have a responsibility to hold all of their staff, all of their players, everyone that's associated with the Jays, they need to hold them accountable and that I would leave for them to manage."
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Bass spoke outside the home dugout at Rogers Centre before the Blue Jays' series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.
He prefaced his remarks by saying "I'll make this quick," before delivering a statement that lasted 33 seconds.
Bass said he was "truly sorry" for the post and that he'd use team resources to better educate himself, adding "the ballpark is for everybody."
The 35-year-old native of Dearborn, Mich., who has more than 33,000 followers on Instagram, did not take questions.
Modeste said the amplification of a hateful social media post can have a significant impact.
"Let's also think about the young person that might be a prospect or might potentially be the next baseball player," he told The Canadian Press. "And seeing this can deter them. So we need to find opportunities to strengthen our community, not to bring our community down."
General manager Ross Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro were not made available to speak with reporters.
The annual Blue Jays Pride weekend is set for June 9-10. A rainbow flag jersey giveaway was planned and other details were to be released next week.
"Pride Toronto has a very good relationship with the Jays," Modeste said. "I personally have worked very closely with the Jays Care Foundation and I know what they stand for because we have been part of this journey together. I don't believe that one individual is going to change what the Jays are going to do and what the Jays have been doing for the community.
"But ultimately they're going to have to make a decision on who do they want on the team and how do they want to be seen and reflected in the community."
Bass apologized to Atkins and Blue Jays manager John Schneider earlier Tuesday. He also apologized to his teammates as a group at the skipper's prompting.
Since Bass did not speak publicly beyond his brief statement, Schneider was left to handle a series of media questions during a pre-game availability in his office.
"I think the message to the fan base is that we have and will continue to be a huge part of the Pride community," he said. "We're looking forward to the ninth and 10th of June. (This situation) doesn't represent our overall feelings as an organization. We love our fans and we love all the support that we get.
"It was unfortunate that (this) happened. If they take anything, it's that the accountability was there and the awareness of how it made people feel was there."
Bass has played for six other teams over his 12-year big-league career.
"As a man, you stand up and you apologize for what you did," Schneider said. "I think that's a really good first step."
Earlier this year, Bass sparked criticism when he tweeted to complain that a flight attendant had asked his pregnant wife to clean up popcorn their toddler dropped on the floor during a flight.
The right-hander also played for Toronto in the 2020 season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2023.
With files from The Associated Press
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.