Red Sox Cancel David Ortiz Bobblehead Night After Figures Determined To Be 'Racially Insensitive'
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Red Sox and David Ortiz must be vigorously shaking their heads Tuesday afternoon.
Fans attending Tuesday night's Red Sox-Yankees game at Fenway Park were supposed to receive a David Ortiz bobblehead, part of the season-long celebration for the retiring Boston slugger.
But that promotion was cancelled by the team early in the afternoon when the figures arrived at Fenway Park and were determined to be "unacceptable" by the Red Sox.
"The bobble heads were unacceptable to the club and were not appropriate for distribution," read the statement released by the team on Twitter.
Red Sox president Sam Kennedy told Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe that the bobbleheads, depicting Ortiz's 2013 "This is our (expletive) city!" speech, were "racially insensitive."
"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," Kennedy said. "If I was feeling this way, certainly other people would. So we pulled the plug."
At Fenway Tuesday night, the buzz was about more than just the game.
"I'm disappointed but I know they'll make good on it," was the take from one Braintree woman. "That would be a little offensive I think. The one I saw did not have the white lips like that no."
"They probably made the right move I would say," another fan said. "I think they made the right move."
But another Sox backer had a different take saying, "I was pretty disappointed. I don't get how that could offend people, just a bobblehead of one of our city's icons"
The company that manufactured the bobbleheads released a statement saying, "We value our decades-long relationship with the Red Sox organization and its decision to postpone Tuesday's David Ortiz bobblehead giveaway. We're currently working closely with the Red Sox to ensure the team and its fans receive a quality product."
All fans who had tickets to Tuesday's game will eventually get a different Ortiz bobblehead.
The Red Sox are getting new ones made up, which will be distributed in the near future (check the team's website for details).
In the meantime, just shake your head in disappointment.
