A baseball player made his debut for the Boston Red Sox - two years after posting a homophobic tweet.
Matt Dermody, who was brought up to the big leagues from Triple-A Worcester, made his first MLB start against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on Thursday night. But while playing in Japan two years ago, he posted a discriminatory message on social media, which has since been deleted, prompting the Red Sox to address the situation before his first start.
"#PrideMonth. Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God. They will go to hell. That is not my opinion, but the #Truth. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9,” the tweet read. “May we all examine our hearts, ask Jesus to forgive us, and repent for our sins. I love you all in Christ Jesus!"
In the 10-3 loss to the Guardians, Dermody gave up two of Jose Ramirez's three home runs. Post-game, the player was apologetic and showed some remorse for the views he expressed in 2021.
"I do regret the tweet in the sense that it came out hurtful and it hurt a lot of people," he said. “That's the last thing I want to do is hurt people.
“A lot of people think that I'm against a certain group of people or whatnot. But I'm for everybody making it to heaven."
The Red Sox stated they were aware of the post when they signed the 32-year-old in January, which they discussed with him and in March, he underwent mandatory anti-discrimination and harassment training.
"What Matt posted in 2021 was hurtful - and we addressed this with him when we learned about it after he joined the Red Sox in 2023," team president and CEO Sam Kennedy said in a statement. "We cannot dictate the religious beliefs or political views of our players and employees, but we do require they treat people in our organization and ballpark with respect and professionalism."
Those thoughts have since been echoed by Red Sox manager Alex Cora who explained: “Obviously, as an organisation we made this decision and done a lot of stuff to educate our players on the subject. I don't know how many organizations do it with their employees and their players as far as educating them about being inclusive, and obviously accepting everyone in your clubhouse and your working environment." Cora added that it's not his place to express his opinion on the beliefs of a player.
"Obviously, not too many people agree with the tweet of Matt's," Cora said. "I'm not here to tell him what to say or to do. But one thing for sure, when you put this uniform on, what we want is for people to be inclusive. I think the clubhouse is a reflection of the world. We've got people from different race, different beliefs, not just religious beliefs but also politics.”
Dermody is expected to be designated for assignment Friday, meaning he will be removed from the team's 40-man roster after which they have seven days to decide on one of several options. The Red Sox must choose whether to place the player on waivers, trade, release or send the pitcher into Minor League Baseball.
