After Anti-Gay Slurs And Violent Threat, Braves Coach Put On Leave

The Atlanta Braves have put pitching coach Roger McDowell on administrative leave after a news conference that accused him of hurling anti-gay slurs, making obscene sexual gestures, and threatening violence at a group of fans at a baseball game last Saturday. Superstar attorney Gloria Allred, representing Justin Quinn and his family, accused McDowell this week, and the Braves’ Coach apologized in a terse statement just hours later.

READ: Atlanta Braves Coach Accused Of Anti-Gay Slurs, Sexually Suggestive Motions

“I am deeply sorry that I responded to the heckling fans in San Francisco on Saturday. I apologize to everyone for my actions,” McDowell said in a statement issued only hours after Wednesday’s press conference.

There’s been little word from the Braves or the Major League Baseball Association other than a comment that the accusations against McDowell were “very troubling,” according to Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

“Although I do not yet have all the facts regarding this incident, the allegations are very troubling to me,” Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement.

“The Atlanta Braves have assured my office that they will immediately investigate the allegations, and report the results of the investigation to me. After I have all the facts, I will make a determination of how to proceed.”

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) had reached out to the Atlanta Braves after news broke of McDowell’s outburst.

Superstar attorney Gloria Allred Wednesday afternoon held a press conference, surrounded by two nine-year old twin girls, their father, Justin Quinn and his wife. Allred read from a statement, in which she accused McDowell of saying to a group of men, “Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?”

“Then the coach allegedly grabbed a baseball bat and started shoving the small end through a circle formed by his finger and thumb, simulating sex,” Allred said, adding that when McDowell was told there were children within earshot, he stated, “kids don’t belong at the f***ing ballpark.”

Recently, Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for hurling a homophobic, anti-gay epithet at a referee.