The Washington Nationals have fired a team official after undercover video captured him suggesting that pitcher Trevor Williams was excluded from promotional efforts after voicing his opposition to drag queens being promoted at a baseball game.
In an X post Friday, independent journalist James O’Keefe shared a pre-game interview of Washington Nationals President of Business Operations Jason Sinnarajah apologizing to fans and pitcher Trevor Williams after the release of undercover footage showing the team’s Director of Community Relations Sean Hudson suggesting that the team shied away from promoting Williams on social media.
“We took action right away, and the individual is no longer employed by the team,” Sinnarajah said. “I want to apologize to Trevor Williams who has been brought into this. We feel awful that he has been dragged into this.”
“We’re not anti-Catholic,” Sinnarajah added as he pushed back on claims made in an undercover video released by O’Keefe last week showing Hudson describing Williams as “very Catholic” and noting his opposition to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ decision to honor the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of drag queens who sometimes dress as nuns.
Summarizing Williams’ position as, “This is wrong, this is my religion, you all are mocking it,” Hudson told the undercover journalist, “Because of that, we don’t use him on social [media].”
Hudson also claimed that “If you ever come to a Nats game, there is someone on our team who is responsible for figuring out everything about you … [including] purchasing habits,” adding that accepting cookies — internet tracking software — allows the team to obtain “a plethora” of fans’ “Google history.”
After highlighting his own Catholic faith, Sinnarajah also disputed Hudson’s comments about the team’s ability to track fans’ internet activity.
“We do not track people’s Google search history,” he said.
“We’re horrified by the comments that were made on the video. The comments don’t reflect us as an organization, our values and who we are. We took action right away, and the individual is no longer employed by the team.”
The Nationals executive noted that “just last week, we featured several players, including Trevor Williams, actually, on Instagram as part of their visit to the Museum of the Bible.”
Sinnarajah also apologized directly to Williams.
“Trevor’s a valued member of the organization. We’ve been proud to support him both on and off the field, including recognizing him last year as our Roberto Clemente Award honoree,” he said.
“Baseball’s a great unifier that brings everybody together regardless of religion or anything like that,” Sinnarajah added. “We’re going to continue to make this ballpark a welcoming place. It’s what we strive to do.”
He concluded by apologizing to anyone offended by the video and stressed, “This is not indicative of how we are as an organization.”
CatholicVote CEO Kelsey Reinhardt, who wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division urging an investigation into the team over Hudson’s comments, praised Hudson’s termination as “a good first step.”
However, Reinhardt argued that additional action is necessary because “the video clearly pointed to an institutional decision to sideline Trevor that requires investigation” by the DOJ and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Hudson’s comments about Williams’ Catholic faith led CatholicVote and media personality Alex Stein to raise concerns that the team may have violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The federal law prohibits employers from discriminating against employees based on religion.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
