During the past month pitchers Josh Hader and Sean Newcomb have apologized after tweets surfaced of them using racial and homophobic slurs.
Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester gave his opinion Monday morning, giving players and really everyone a simple piece of advice.
If you’re on Twitter, please spend the 5 minutes it takes to scrub your account of anything you wouldn’t want plastered next to your face on the front page of a newspaper. Better yet, don’t say stupid things in the first place. Too many young guys getting burned. #themoreyouknow
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
Listen I’m far from the sharpest tool in the shed and there’s certainly no halo above my head (pardon the rhyme) but I know some of these guys are great dudes who just had lapses in judgement.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
That was initially met with some backlash because although the intention was obviously coming from a good place the real problem here isn’t players, or anyone deleting old, offensive tweets, it’s that they used those offensive words in the first place.
Yet, what happened next is something that really doesn’t happen too often. Met with the slight criticism, Lester didn’t lash out as a response.
Jon Lester is, right now, reading and replying to tweets about really important issues. He's actually hearing people, considering their feelings and perspective, and responding thoughtfully. In this era, that's pretty damn impressive. Read his replies: @JLester34
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 30, 2018
Amen! Great idea!
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
You’re right, reputations come in a distant second as far as I’m concerned.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
You’re right but both are wrong. We just gotta be better people.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
Thanks Meagan but I wasn't just speaking about the ballplayers, there is no room in this world for that kind of evil and I don't in any way condone or even understand that crap. Sorry for the confusion.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
Absolutely not , never said anything that even resembles that, sorry if that was your interpretation, its not at all what I meant. I should've been more specific but I wasn't speaking about any one individual's tweets. I agree with you, you are who you are when no one is looking.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
There is no explanation or excuse, just accountability as far as I’m concerned.
— Jon Lester (@JLester34) July 30, 2018
and he's out here liking the good tweets. i am so happyyyyyyyy pic.twitter.com/MUZOzDmJEp
— Kelly Wallace (@kellyawallace) July 30, 2018
No one is perfect, no one has all the answers, but at least this is a good back and forth that Lester is having with other fans.
