Daniel Murphy may be a superstar on the field, but the baseball players’ anti-gay comments are coming back to haunt him.
The sports world is head over heels for Mets infielder Daniel Murphy, as this Deadspin headline from today proves: “Daniel Murphy Just Keeps Mashing, Might Be Possessed.”
But on Twitter, many people have decided to remind the world that while Murphy may be a star on the field, off the field he can’t run away from his anti-gay comments.
Speaking back in March about Billy Bean, MLB’s inclusion ambassador and credited as “the second major league player to announce he was gay,” after he left his baseball career, Murphy said he disagrees “100 percent” with the gay “lifestyle.”
“I disagree with his lifestyle,” Murphy said. “I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him. I don’t think the fact that someone is a homosexual should completely shut the door on investing in them in a relational aspect. Getting to know him. That, I would say, you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100 percent.”
Murphy also couched his remarks in his religious beliefs, but said he would not shun Bean or gay people, including a gay player.
“Maybe, as a Christian, that we haven’t been as articulate enough in describing what our actual stance is on homosexuality,” Murphy said. “We love the people. We disagree the lifestyle. That’s the way I would describe it for me. It’s the same way that there are aspects of my life that I’m trying to surrender to Christ in my own life. There’s a great deal of many things, like my pride. I just think that as a believer trying to articulate it in a way that says just because I disagree with the lifestyle doesn’t mean I’m just never going to speak to Billy Bean every time he walks through the door. That’s not love. That’s not love at all.”
Over the past few days, increasingly, Twitter has exploded with comments calling Murphy a “bigot,” and making other remarks:
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Image by Keith Allison via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: NJ.com
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