‘Cancel Kurt Suzuki!’: Washington Nats fans show divide over team's trip to White House
2019-11-040
The Washington Nationals, winners of the World Series, have capped off an American underdog story with a White House trip, and the team has become subject to ‘cancel culture’ and the resistance era.
Kurt Suzuki, the capital’s baseball team catcher, was especially outward in his appreciation for the US president, dawning Trump’s signature MAGA hat. When called to the stage, President Trump embraced Suzuki and said that he loved him.
Washington Nationals’ Kurt Suzuki wears a MAGA hat at White House event recognizing World Series champs
He soon became the target of much anger, with many calling to “officially cancel” the Nats catcher and others condemning how he was “cozying up to a monster who hates people like me.” One commenter on Twitter claimed that the MAGA hat was “a form of racist hate speech and an implicit threat of violence” and that “Kurt Suzuki should be banned from baseball.” Another called Suzuki “an embarrassment to his family.”
Not gonna lie: having spent the past decade cheering on the Nats and the last several months obsessed w/ their playoff journey, it's pretty heartbreaking to see Kurt Suzuki and company go far beyond polite reception and cozying up to a monster who hates people like me.
Nats first basemen Ryan Zimmerman presented Trump with a white-colored Nationals jersey with the number 45 on it, which some on social media quickly spun into a symbol of white nationalism.
Other fans celebrated the way the Nationals behaved at the event, some calling it “the best thing you’ll see today.” Another expressed how Suzuki doesn’t have to conform to left-wing standards.
Trump's reaction to Nats player Kurt Suzuki whipping out a MAGA hat out of nowhere is the best thing you'll see today. pic.twitter.com/HrkJ2K2GFr
Eight members of the Nationals didn’t go to White House event—notably Sean Doolittle, Nats pitcher, who said when asked about President Trump, “I don’t want to hang out with somebody who talks like that.”
Since 2016, several sports teams and athletes have refused an invitation to visit the White House, including the 2016-2017 North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team and a number of members from the 2016 Clemson Tigers men’s football team, 2016-2017 Pittsburgh Penguins, and 2017 Houston Astros.
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