Bobbleheads depicting Boston Red Sox superstar David Ortiz were removed from a free giveaway Tuesday after the Red Sox organization deemed them racist.
According to CBS Boston, the figurines depicted Ortiz’s 2013 “This is our (expletive) city!” speech. Some of the figures had large white lips that could be considered racially insensitive.
Fans at Fenway Park were supposed to get one of the bobbleheads as a token of appreciation for their loyalty as Red Sox fans. However, they will be getting replacement figures at a future game.
The team released a statement via Twitter stating that the bobbleheads were “unacceptable for distribution.”
https://twitter.com/RedSox/status/763076286327689217/photo/1
“It was an inaccurate portrayal of David. It doesn’t really look like David. No. 2, I personally thought it seemed to be an offensive portrayal of him and that the facial features were racially insensitive,” Red Sox President Sam Kennedy told The Boston Globe. “If I was feeling this way, certainly other people would. So we pulled the plug.”