The Toronto Blue Jays put distance between themselves and anti-Muslim social media posts from outfielder Anthony Santander, saying his points don’t reflect the team’s values.
“Baseball is for everyone, and the Blue Jays have created an inclusive experience where all fans feel welcome at our ballpark. Individual comments do not represent our organization’s values and beliefs,” a team spokesperson told CTV News Thursday.
Santander, a 32-year-old native of Venezuela, put out the posts after Tuesday’s midterms in the U.S., which included the victory of Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed. The Democrat will be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate.
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The posts, which were deleted Thursday, included a video in which a Christian preacher said that “there is no such thing as kind Muslims” and another that suggested sharia law would be imposed on the U.S., according to The Associated Press.
Just over 626,000 Muslims lived in the Toronto metropolitan area as of 2021, with 1.7 million Muslims in Canada overall, nearly 5% of the country’s population, according to Statistics Canada.
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