MLB investigating Pillar for gay slur

[gunnarthor]

http://deadspin.com/mlb-is-investigating-kevin-pillars-apparent-homophobic-1795334576

 

Pillar was angry and upset and reacted by using a gay slur.  From the article, "Everyone gets frustrated and says dumb **** sometimes, but it doesn’t have to come out with a gay slur. Whether Pillar was at his breaking point or not, he wouldn’t have used that particular word if he weren’t comfortable with it." 

 

I would imagine MLB will fine him and/or suspend him for a game.

[Vanimal46]

The icing on the cake is he blamed it on being competitive and frustrated.... And my favorite cop-out line, "it's a part of the game" 

[TheLeviathan]

 

The icing on the cake is he blamed it on being competitive and frustrated.... And my favorite cop-out line, "it's a part of the game" 

 

If only someone had pointed out that homophobia being mixed in with this was inevitable.....

[COtwin]

Why do we care????

He said something mean, but because of the special interest group involved it is news??

 

[Vanimal46]

 

Why do we care????

He said something mean, but because of the special interest group involved it is news??

 

I don't know.... because we want society to evolve? 

[Parker Hageman]

From Pillar...

 

[Mike Sixel]

Well written apology. It seems legit, too.

[ashbury]

Well written apology. It seems legit, too.

It seemed heartfelt, from whatever professional writer performed the task for him. I'm on the fence as to how significantly the player himself internalized it, although hopefully he's seen the problem beyond just his own self-interest for future earnings now at risk.

[gunnarthor]

Yeah, at least he's owning up to it and taking his medicine. 

[nicksaviking]

 

It seemed heartfelt, from whatever professional writer performed the task for him. I'm on the fence as to how significantly the player himself internalized it, although hopefully he's seen the problem beyond just his own self-interest for future earnings now at risk.

 

It sounded sincere but yeah, could have been written by an agent. I guess if the incident causes him to change, the end result will be the same whether it was due to embarrassment, sincere regret or endorsement money.

 

Coming from a guy who regretfully made way too many gay jokes back in the day, it wasn't all that hard of a habit to give up. 

[drjim]

It seemed heartfelt, from whatever professional writer performed the task for him. I'm on the fence as to how significantly the player himself internalized it, although hopefully he's seen the problem beyond just his own self-interest for future earnings now at risk.

Do you hold everyone to this standard of trying to determine how much they internalize their apologies?

 

Don't know how much more forceful he could be.

[Willihammer]

ITT: Nobody who has ever said anything regretful in the heat of anger.

[Mike Sixel]

Generally, if you ignore things like this, the world doesn't change....that said, I don't see a need for any punishment for things like this that are in the heat of the moment and happen 1 time.

[drjim]

 

Can you honestly tell me you like the way society looks right now?  Is it actually better than 10 or 20 years ago?

 

Much better. And will continue to trend towards better, even with the occasional ups and downs.

 

It is a good thing that as a society we are working to remove references to gay people as a negative slur.

 

I thought Pillar did good by himself in the way that he apologized. Exactly correct.

[DaveW]

Can you honestly tell me you like the way society looks right now? Is it actually better than 10 or 20 years ago?

When it comes to LGBTQ it has evolved big time, hell, go back and watch some "comedies" from the 90's and early 2000. Non stop gay jokes, so much so that watching now is super uncomfortable and it seems beyond crass.

[COtwin]

 

When it comes to LGBTQ it has evolved big time, hell, go back and watch some "comedies" from the 90's and early 2000. Non stop gay jokes, so much so that watching now is super uncomfortable and it seems beyond crass.

I can agree with your qualification of the statement.  But that community isn't the only one that matters, in this country, all communities are supposed to matter.  

 

[Aggies7]

Wonder if the author of that article ever used that word or an equally offensive word about another group.....? So quick to witch hunt these days. The hypocrisy drips.

[nicksaviking]

*****Moderator Note*****

 

Anyone who wants to talk politics needs to take it to the sports bar. Frankly, no matter where you fall on LGBT rights I don't see how denouncing slurs of any type is a political hot button. Regardless, if anyone wants to know how Twins Daily feels about any kind of derogatory name-calling check the posting policies.

[Mike Sixel]

 

Wonder if the author of that article ever used that word or an equally offensive word about another group.....? So quick to witch hunt these days. The hypocrisy drips.

 

It's against the rules of baseball to use racial or other slurs like this. What did the author do, exactly?

[ashbury]

Do you hold everyone to this standard of trying to determine how much they internalize their apologies?

 

Don't know how much more forceful he could be.

It sounded corporate. His next live interview, and surely there will be one on the topic, will be more revealing. And yes, I guess I do want to know whether and how much he internalized the remorse; I consider the written statement opaque in that regard, so (as I said) I'm on the fence, i.e. withholding judgement.

[Aggies7]

 

It's against the rules of baseball to use racial or other slurs like this. What did the author do, exactly?

I'm not arguing that it's legal to use the word or that he shouldn't be reprimanded. But the author says this:

 

"Everyone gets frustrated and says dumb s*** sometimes, but it doesn’t have to come out with a gay slur. Whether Pillar was at his breaking point or not, he wouldn’t have used that particular word if he weren’t comfortable with it."

 

Sounds preachy to me. My guess is that the author has, at some point in her life, used a word or two that is verboten in a workplace setting. Judging by the responses in this thread, everyone is quite quick to bury someone for inappropriate language. Must have a lot of clean consciences on TwinsDaily!!

[Aggies7]

 

ITT: Nobody who has ever said anything regretful in the heat of anger.

Exactly!

[Mike Sixel]

 

I'm not arguing that it's legal to use the word or that he shouldn't be reprimanded. But the author says this:

 

"Everyone gets frustrated and says dumb s*** sometimes, but it doesn’t have to come out with a gay slur. Whether Pillar was at his breaking point or not, he wouldn’t have used that particular word if he weren’t comfortable with it."

 

Sounds preachy to me. My guess is that the author has, at some point in her life, used a word or two that is verboten in a workplace setting. Judging by the responses in this thread, everyone is quite quick to bury someone for inappropriate language. Must have a lot of clean consciences on TwinsDaily!!

 

got it, and yes, that part was preachy some for sure.

 

"everyone", even those saying the apology looks legit and he shouldn't be punished?

[nicksaviking]

*****Moderator Note*******

 

This has ceased to be baseball related and is being moved to the Sports Bar. That does not preclude this thread from being shut down if posts once again get out of hand.

[Aggies7]

 

got it, and yes, that part was preachy some for sure.

 

"everyone", even those saying the apology looks legit and he shouldn't be punished?

I didn't see anyone saying he shouldn't be punished, unless I missed a post somewhere. I just have a problem with chastising someone (and I mean in the general public, not TD) for something I'm pretty sure the VAST majority of people have done at one time or another. Not saying that eliminates a reprimand, but there is a definite mob mentality when someone says something offensive and it's almost always true that some in the mob have their own skeletons...

[Mike Sixel]

 

I didn't see anyone saying he shouldn't be punished, unless I missed a post somewhere. I just have a problem with chastising someone (and I mean in the general public, not TD) for something I'm pretty sure the VAST majority of people have done at one time or another. Not saying that eliminates a reprimand, but there is a definite mob mentality when someone says something offensive and it's almost always true that some in the mob have their own skeletons...

 

Huh, that seems to have been deleted where I said he shouldn't be punished for doing this 1 time. The rules should allow at least one oops, imo.

[drjim]

2 game suspension from the team. Actually strikes me as a little steep.

[Mike Sixel]

 

2 game suspension from the team. Actually strikes me as a little steep.

 

way too steep.

[PseudoSABR]

It's one thing to say something untoward in the heat of anger/passion, but when your go-to-pejorative is slur about a particular group, you can expect a lot of flak, and rightfully so.  

 

It's not as if Pillar used a generic insult, like jerk/a-hole/etc.  (No one would care).  The issue isn't that Pillar was being mean (although it's not great to be mean), the issue is that he used a group-specific insult to be mean.   If you need to refer to sub-groups to insult someone, there's an issue. 

 

 

[TheLeviathan]

Baseball is far from the only sport dealing with offensive language - all of the major sports really seem to be working to address this for the first time.  I think it's largely a good thing.