Fresno Grizzlies kowtowing after AOC video

Thanks to the lack of checking the content of a video, the Fresno Grizzlies are under fire. The team showed a vid that sketched House of Representatives member Alexandra Octavio Cortez as an enemy of freedom.

During Memorial Day, the Fresno Grizzlies showed a video between two doubleheaders. The video started as a Memorial Day tribute to the troops and patriotism but then turned into a montage of “enemies of freedom” that compared House of Representatives member Alexandra Octavio Cortez with dictators like Fidel Castro and Kim Jung-Un.

The Grizzlies claim the video was created by someone outside the club and that they didn’t see it as a whole. Because of that, they were not aware of the offending part.

Since Fresno is situated in a mostly conservative rural area, the creation of the video may not come as a surprise.

Since her inauguration, Alexandria Octavio Cortez has been targeted by Republican congress members and Fox news. This video can be seen as a continuation of the continuous attacks on AOC.

What people don’t (maybe do) realize is when orgs air these hateful messages, my life changes bc of the flood of death threats they inspire.

I‘ve had mornings where I wake up & the 1st thing I do w/ my coffee is review photos of the men (it’s always men) who want to kill me. https://t.co/hiYbPghad7

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 28, 2019

Only after a Twitter storm of disgruntled people, the Grizzlies posted a public apology:

We are aware of the problem with the Memorial Day tribute video shown in the ballpark between games of Monday’s doubleheader.

A pre-produced video from outside our front office was selected; unfortunately what was supposed to be a moving tribute ended with some misleading and offensive editing, which made a statement that was not our intent and certainly not our opinion.

We apologize to our fans and to our community for the error and for not properly vetting the video. We also apologize to those who have served and are currently serving the country for the undue distraction on such a solemn day.

We’re embarrassed we allowed this video to play without seeing it in its entirety first. We unconditionally apologize to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in addition to those we hurt. It was a mistake and we will ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.

Despite the apology, plenty of Twitter accounts accused the club of lying for not having completely seen a 3: 30-minute video.