© Benny Sieu | 2018 Jun 27
During last week’s All-Star game, a number of racist, homophobic and misogynistic tweets from Brewers relief pitcher Josh Hader surfaced. Among the tweets, which were posted when Hader was in high school, at least one explicitly used racial slurs, and another read, “I hate gay people.”
Hader subsequently apologized for the tweets and said he has changed as a person. He was then unexpectedly given a standing ovation in his first appearance in front of his home fans days later.
The AT&T Park faithful had a different reaction to Hader on Thursday night. In his first relief appearance away from home since the tweets surfaced, Giants fans made their thoughts on Hader abundantly clear. As Hader trotted in from the right-field bullpen, fans booed him loudly until after he reached the mound.
Chorus of boos for Josh Hader here in San Francisco.
It’s Hader’s first road game since his racist and homophobic tweets surfaced. pic.twitter.com/3m0oqKgyPp
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) July 27, 2018
After the game, Hader was asked about the boos.
“Like I said before, I can’t control what they’re going to say to me,” Hader said via NBC Sports. “I’ve made mistakes in my earlier years. I’ve just got to go out and focus on what I’ve got to do and that’s to get outs and help this team win … Obviously I don’t like what I said back then and I obviously regret what came out, but we live and we learn as human beings. We’re not perfect. It’s how you learn from what you do and just become a better person from it.
“I heard a lot, but l can’t let my mistakes distract me from my job going forward.”
The Brewers have three more games in San Francisco before heading to Los Angeles for a three game set with the Dodgers.