Josh Hader is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers and widely considered by many to be a rising MLB star in part because of his powerful fastball.
Of course, every athlete has their good days and their bad days. During last night’s All-Star Game against the Seattle Mariners, Hader wasn’t playing his best.
Shortly after allowing a three-run home run during the game’s eighth inning, Hader’s night went from bad to much, much worse when the internet became flooded with a string of racist and homophobic tweets written by the athlete several years ago.
.@jhader17 made his account private, but we have the receipts. pic.twitter.com/QOv2G3rbAl
— queer #FancyStats ????? (@queerfancystats) July 18, 2018
Yahoo! Sports, which broke the story, reports:
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After Hader allowed a three-run home run to Jean Segura, Twitter users unearthed a series of reprehensible messages Hader had sent from his account over an eight-month period when he was 17. One said: “I hate gay people.” He used the N-word at least three times, once quoting a rap lyric, twice not. He used a fist emoji followed by “white power lol” and another time tweeted, simply, “KKK.” Two months before the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in 2012, he wrote: “Need a bitch that can f—, cook, clean right.”
Yikes!
A press conference was quickly called. 24-year-old Hader apologized for the tweets, which were written back in 2011 and 2012 when he was still a teenager.
“I was just 17 years old. I was a child,” he said. “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.”
Asked to explain the context of the tweets, Hader blamed it on… rap music?
Josh Hader, part 2 of his comments addressing the tweets pic.twitter.com/tWs2zBmukS
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) July 18, 2018
Hader made his debut playing for the Brewers last year after he was first drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012.
After the scandal broke last night, he deleted his Twitter account, which, honestly, is probably for the best.
Related: Major League Baseball players were secretly filmed in the shower
IWantAFullBeard
Dude is fugly.
Chrisk
Umm… 10 I’d get but 17 is not a child.
Smith David
I can remember doing some dumb things when I was younger. That said, I can sympathize with him and accept his apology. Like many young bucks, he was attempting to reaffirm his masculinity and heterosexuality. I’ve been witness to many a homophobe who have changed their views and aligned themselves with the community. As for the racist remarks, as an African American, I wasn’t offended. I think he was just using the slang of the “N” word and didn’t meant it in a ring wing racist way. If you get my drift…;)
Chrisk
So according to you it’s ok because he was just trying to be masculine and not gay. We can also start using the N word freely as long as it has slang in it and we mean it in the right way. I didn’t know this was an official NAACP policy now. Lol
Smith David
Right wing*
Smith David
@Chrisk…I’m sorry. My comment was geared towards those of us who can acknowledge that we were all young and did dumb things at one point or another. It’s implied that what he did was wrong. But of course, I can’t expect you of all people to understand. You were never young. So you have no regrets right? You never wished you could’ve done something differently? Hate towards others is a learned behavior. Isn’t it possible to correct this behavior?
RnDC
3 Words: Dermatologist, Counselor, Barber
Paulie P
YES!!!.. I logged in to say the same thing.. but you did…!
Donston
Based off the long hair in the pic and the word “pitcher” I briefly thought this was Mike Clevinger, who is one of my favorite players. I’m just grateful it’s not him.
barkomatic
Those are some ugly tweets. It’s common for young male teens to have outsized egos who think they have street credibility because they talk like that. Mature people recognize that as an expression of extreme insecurity.
I have a feeling this guy is still a jerk but I also think we have to give people the chance to change and apologize. We’ll see with this one.
Mack
Sounds like he was made in Trump heaven.
lambchopp59
I couldn’t hear the video… but:
If Josh Hater’s “apology” didn’t come with a very sizable donation to practically any LGBT cause, the HRC, PFLAG, Trevor Project, who cares which then to usurp the words of our orangutan Putin puppet: “Get that S.O.B. off the field right now, out, he’s fired”, reversing Traitor Tot’s deplorable reference to one of our staunch LGBT and racial equality heros. It’s long about time this racist, homophobic, misogynistic and other trait-based dissing crap was publicly denounced by at least some of these republican assholes or be voted out forever.
When Colin stood up for the oppressed…only wretched echo chamber false “patriotic” bullshit from the Trumpers, laser-focused on the “how”, ignoring the “why”.
Josh should be the one out of a job, I don’t care what excuse he laments for his shameful old diatribe. Colin had some guts doing what he did, he acted up! Josh just whined a pitiful and empty excuse.
jckfmsincty
He needs sensitivity training and a good skin care regimen.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I’ll have a pizza with the works please. To go?? No, on my face…..
NeoAurelianensis
i think i can live without his support.