The Toronto Blue Jays met with members of the Muslim community Thursday and apologized for unrepentant outfielder Anthony Santander, who recently shared social media posts criticized as Islamophobic.
In a statement posted by the team on social media, Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro said that “we met with leaders in Toronto’s Muslim communities today, who shared the harm caused by Anthony Santander’s Islamophobic social media posts. … We condemn Islamophobia and all forms of hate.”
Shapiro also said that the team is “deeply sorry to the Muslim community and our fans for the pain and harm these Islamophobic posts have caused. We will work with leaders in Muslim communities to fight against all forms of hate.”
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The 2021 Canadian census found that over 626,000 Muslims live in the Toronto metropolitan area, with 1.7 million living across Canada, roughly 5% of the national population.
Steven Zhou with the National Council of Canadian Muslims told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that “I think some people might be surprised at just how many Muslims are fans of baseball and the Blue Jays … The kind of response I’ve gotten from our community members from different circles, from various people, has been unbelievable. People are very, very upset.”
Santander, a Venezuelan national, shared the posts in the aftermath of the U.S. midterm elections and the victory of Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat. Mr. El-Sayed will be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.
The since-deleted posts included a video from a preacher saying that “there is no such thing as kind Muslims,” while another post suggested that Muslims would impose sharia law on the U.S.
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins said at the league’s annual general manager meetings Tuesday that he asked Santander to publicly address the controversy and apologize, according to MLB.com. Santander has not yet spoken publicly about the posts.
“There really aren’t words to express my level of disappointment with him making those comments. … I think anything exacerbating some level of anti-Islamic hate is just extremely concerning, extremely disappointing. I also talked to Anthony about his lack of awareness,” Atkins said, according to MLB.com.
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