Kevin Pillar Suspended By Blue Jays For Anti-Gay Slur
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — The Toronto Blue Jays suspended their center fielder Kevin Pillar for two games after he hurled an anti-gay slur at an opposing pitcher.
Pillar used the slur against Jason Motte of the Atlanta Braves during a game Wednesday night when he thought the pitcher tried to “quickpitch” him — throw a pitch before he was ready to hit in the batter’s box.
The Jewish player was quick to apologize for the incident.
“I was ashamed. I regret saying it,” he told reporters before another game against the Braves on Thursday. “I’m going to be used as an example of how words can really offend a lot of people.”
Pillar, known as one of the top defensive outfielders in the major leagues, will be able to return on Saturday, when the Blue Jays play the Baltimore Orioles. He will also be fined an undisclosed amount.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
