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Minor league baseball team apologizes for including Ocasio-Cortez in ‘Enemies of Freedom’ montage
The Fresno Grizzlies issued an apology late Monday.
A minor league baseball team apologized after airing a video that showed an image of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) while former President Ronald Reagan warned about “enemies of freedom.”
The Fresno Grizzlies, the AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals, issued the apology late Monday.
The three-and-a-half minute video, which the team said aired between two games during a doubleheader on Monday, features Reagan speaking about the sacrifice of soldiers.
Near the end of the video, Reagan speaks about “enemies of freedom” when a picture of Ocasio-Cortez was shown amid images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Cuba’s former leader Fideal Castro.
A Grizzles spokesperson told USA Today that the club aired a video that is currently available on YouTube.
“A pre-produced video from outside our front office was selected; unfortunately what was supposed to be a moving tribute ended with some misleading and offensive editing, which made a statement that was not our intent and certainly not our opinion,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted to Twitter. “We apologize to our fans and to our community for this error and for not properly vetting the video. We also apologize to those who have served and are currently serving the country for the undue distraction on such a solemn day.”
In a follow-up tweet, the Grizzlies also apologized to Ocasio-Cortez.
“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,” the team wrote.
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
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