In their attempt to run a fitting Memorial Day video on the jumbotron at the ballpark Monday, the Fresno Grizzlies ended up creating a firestorm.
The Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate was filling space between games of a doubleheader and the production team pulled a seemingly run-of-the-mill cut of military clips backed by excerpts of Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address.
For the first three minutes or so, the video runs along without anything overtly inflammatory, but takes a sharp turn in the final 30 seconds.
Over the line “As for the enemies of freedom,” the video suddenly shifts to images of North Korean and Cuban leaders Kim Jong-Un and Fidel Castro, interspersed with photos of Antifa protesters and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY.
The team has issued both a general apology, as well as one to the congresswoman in particular.
We’re embarrassed we allowed this video to play without seeing it in its entirety first. We unconditionally apologize to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) in addition to our fans, community and those we hurt. It was a mistake and we will ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.
— Fresno Grizzlies (@FresnoGrizzlies) May 28, 2019
In a series of tweets, Cortez said, “words matter, and can have consequences for safety.” She added that the “hateful messages” inspire the death threats she says she receives.
What people don’t (maybe do) realize is when orgs air these hateful messages, my life changes bc of the flood of death threats they inspire.
I‘ve had mornings where I wake up & the 1st thing I do w/ my coffee is review photos of the men (it’s always men) who want to kill me. https://t.co/hiYbPghad7
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 28, 2019
A club representative declined to comment any further on the matter.
