Former Boston Red Sox Minor Leaguer Brett Netzer Awarded Donkey Of The Day For Hateful Tweets

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The Boston Red Sox have released a minor league player after he posted a series of hateful tweets, including several directed at Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom.

A Red Sox spokesperson told NewsCenter 5 that former third-round draft pick Brett Netzer asked for his release on Sunday and the team granted it.

The spokesperson said there will be no statement or further comment on the matter.

The Athletic’s Chad Jennings was the first to report that the Red Sox officially released Netzer following a racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic rant on Twitter.

Alex Speier, of the Boston Globe, later confirmed that Boston released Netzer after the team confirmed the social media posts were in fact his rather than a product of a hack.

In a reply to a fellow Twitter user, a tweet from Netzer read “not hacked.”

Netzer also tweeted the following in a separate reply to another Twitter user:

“I am a racist. I do sometimes make assumptions based on a person’s race/ethnicity/culture. Glad that is out of the way.”

Netzer also replied to Jennings’ tweet about his release, only writing “interesting” at first before replying to the tweet again.

“I’ll go along with racist and homophobic, but anti-semitic? That’s too far,” Netzer wrote. “Bloom is a hypocrite and an embarrassment to any Torah-following Jew.”

Netzer, 25, was selected by the Red Sox with the 101st overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft out of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The infielder last played for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in 2019, batting .247 in 130 games. The 2020 minor-league season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Netzer was placed on the restricted list on May 4, 2021, for undisclosed reasons and remained on that list for the entire season.

Red Sox minor-league pitcher Brendan Cellucci, a 2019 draft pick, took to Twitter to denounce Netzer’s comments on the social media platform.

“It’s safe to say Red Sox fans have been shocked by the comments of a former player,” Cellucci tweeted. “I don’t speak for the organization, however, I will say that player’s comments don’t reflect the reputation and standard we uphold. Our organization promotes respect and love for all, period.”

[via WCVB]