Josh Hader was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in June 2012, two months after his 18th birthday and four months after he posted the following to his now deleted Twitter account.
Hey @brewers this yall’s man? pic.twitter.com/2NpOCWtUfj
— Cub Fan Javy Man (@RizzoIsCaptain) July 18, 2018
That was just one of many problematic tweets that were exposed Tuesday night after Hader allowed a three-run homer in the MLB All-Star Game.
The tweets ranged from quoting lyrics, to flat out saying the N-word and expressing hate toward gay people.
Sure, this set of tweets can be explained away as being immature…
Just when you think they can’t get any worse, they get much worse…. pic.twitter.com/H2fJtJ22VI
— Cub Fan Javy Man (@RizzoIsCaptain) July 18, 2018
…however, even as a 17-year-old, you definitely know that using the N-word is wrong. Hader did plenty of that.
Yes, that first tweet is a song lyric from Juicy J’s “Durr She Goes,” and even that doesn’t excuse him, but the rest? Can’t really explain all that away.
And in this case you can’t just say, “he was a kid, he was 17-years-old in high school.” Let’s be honest here for a second. If there is one thing you learn when you’re a kid about racism it’s to not use the N-word. So, miss me with the, “he didn’t know better,” bullshit excuse.
Oh and how about just randomly tweeting KKK.
— Kevin Jenkins (KJen) (@kjen1327) July 18, 2018
After the American League defeated the National League 8-6, Hader met with reporters and apologized for the tweets..
Josh Hader apologized and said his awful tweets do not reflect his current views. “When you’re a kid, you tweet what’s on your mind,” he said.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) July 18, 2018
Josh Hader answered for his racist and homophobic Tweets by chalking them up to immaturity at 17 years old. "There’s no excuse for what was said, and I’m deeply sorry for what I said and what’s going on. That doesn’t reflect on my beliefs going on now.”
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) July 18, 2018
So being racist and hating gay people were on his mind. Good to clear that up.https://t.co/6bpXI6FB1C
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) July 18, 2018
Anyway, I truly hope Hader no longer believes that using the N-word is acceptable and that his hatred for gay people has disappeared.
Okay, well, now winning the division is a little bit personal. Did Hader pitch at your Pride Night in June, @Brewers? pic.twitter.com/k5Ghm1gOQm
— Kelly Wallace (@kellyawallace) July 18, 2018
Yet, in the following video Hader is asked directly if any of his beliefs have changed from the time he sent the tweets seven years ago to now.
His answer?
“Nothing.”
Even the reporter was stunned, asking him again if nothing had changed. The question is asked at the 59-second mark of the video.
Josh Hader addresses the tweets that surfaced during the game pic.twitter.com/Zzh6uS2frH
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) July 18, 2018
Sure, you could say that the lesson here is to delete all your awful tweets when you’re a public figure, but how about just not being a hateful person?
By the way, if you defend Hader by saying that everyone probably said similar things when they were 17-years-old then, then you know what, those people are equally ignorant and should feel bad for what they’ve said.
And how about an apology not centered around the excuse of “that was seven years ago.” It doesn’t matter when you were dropping N-bombs, calling people homosexual slurs and expressing hate toward gay people.
Apologize for your hateful shit and don’t try to hide behind “being a kid.”
Own up to believing in what you’ve expressed and say how stupid those beliefs were at the time and still today.
