What the fan said was relatively innocent.
On Sunday afternoon, a frustrated person at Fenway Park yelled at Red Sox center fielder Jarren Duran, who was in the middle of an at-bat against the Houston Astros.
“Tennis racket. Tennis racket. You need a tennis racket.”
Nothing special or offensive. Nothing about the player’s family. Just a typical, run-of-the-mill squeak.
Duran’s reaction was disproportionately violent. He turned to the stands as he squeezed into the box, looked at the fan in question and hurled an anti-gay insult in the heckler’s direction.
Because Duran was standing at home plate, within earshot of multiple microphones, his homophobic language was picked up on the Red Sox broadcast. Before the game was over, Duran’s remarks were circulating on social media.
After the match, the team released two statements, one on behalf of Duran and one on behalf of the organization.
On Monday, the team announced it had suspended its All-Star center fielder for two games without pay. The money Duran reportedly received — approximately $8,500 — will be donated to PFLAG, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ+ advocacy.
The penalty takes effect immediately, meaning Duran, who was on track to appear in all 162 games this season, will be unavailable Monday and Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. It’s a clear blow to Boston’s lineup; the team has lost four straight and is three games out of a playoff spot.
Just a week ago, the MLB world mourned the death of Billy Bean, the second openly gay retired player in league history. Bean, who died of leukemia at age 60, retired from the game in 1995 and later worked for the league for 10 years, starting in 2014 as an ambassador for inclusion and then serving as the league’s senior vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion and a special assistant to the commissioner. His impact behind the scenes was immense. Bean traveled the country to speak with players, building networks and relationships along the way. By telling his own story as a once-closeted gay player in baseball, he hoped to teach the next generation how to create a more accepting atmosphere around the game he loved.
This incident with Duran is an unfortunate reminder that the cause to which Bean devoted the last decade of his life remains woefully unfinished. The word Duran used is simply unacceptable. He crossed a line and must now face the consequences.
This also isn’t the first time in recent memory that a major leaguer has been suspended for using a homophobic slur. There is indeed precedent here. Matt Joyce received a two-gamer in 2017, as did Kevin Pillar in 2021.
That the insult Duran uttered is still commonplace in MLB clubhouses and beyond doesn’t change the dynamic. Not in the slightest. It only serves to illustrate how deeply ingrained the problem is. Duran was so comfortable “in the heat of the moment” that he used the phrase at home plate during a season in which the Red Sox are being chronicled by a Netflix crew.
And the horde of individuals on the internet trying to classify this whole thing as a “non-issue” is completely irrelevant. It simply is a non-issue. to them. Just because a hurtful word was once commonplace on a high school playground doesn’t mean it’s okay to use it in 2024. It wasn’t even okay in 1984. Society is moving forward, moving forward, evolving into a more thoughtful and loving version of itself—or at least it should be. Anything less is, at best, needlessly narrow-minded and, at worst, outright bullying.
Practically speaking, you can’t say what Duran said, as a prominent professional athlete, as a public figure, and not expect there to be consequences. And that’s a good thing.
Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.
Duran has hopefully learned his lesson. He was on track to play in all 162 games, something he has repeatedly admitted was a goal of his. That is now a thing of the past. His apology on Monday — in which he claimed to have never used the word before, which seems highly unlikely given how easily it came from his mouth — will not change anything. Only time and a genuine desire to improve can do that.
One final point: Duran is not a victim here, no matter how much keyboard warriors try to glorify him. Moreover, by suspending him, the Red Sox have made Duran a cause célèbre in the larger contemporary culture war. That a significant portion of the public saw the video of the insult and their immediate reaction was to defend Duran and hold him up as some kind of crusader against the oncoming tide of modern wokeness? That just plain sucks.
Going through baseball and life with care and acceptance for others is not a political issue.
Actually, it shouldn’t be a question at all.
