A former professional baseball player sent a bizarre message to a Seattle journalist on Wednesday morning, mocking sexual assault victims.
Bret Boone, who used to play second baseman for the Seattle Mariners, sent Seattle Post-Intelligence reporter Stephen Cohen a Twitter direct message to jokingly tell him he’d been sexually assaulted.
‘I got sexually harassed twice today,’ the 48-year-old wrote in his first message.
‘The Starbucks girl smiled at me and the woman at rite aid flirted with me. Im (sic) gettin (sic) a lawyer, unacceptable, lol.’
Bret Boone, who used to play second baseman for the Seattle Mariners, sent Seattle Post-Intelligence reporter Stephen Cohen a Twitter direct message to jokingly tell him he’d been sexually assaulted. He is pictured in 2016
‘I got sexually harassed twice today,’ the 48-year-old wrote in his first message. ‘The Starbucks girl smiled at me and the woman at rite aid flirted with me. Im (sic) gettin (sic) a lawyer, unacceptable, lol.
When questioned about why he thought that kind of joke was appropriate, Boone responded to say he was sorry he’d offended Cohen but he was sick of ‘all the liberal bs’
Cohen quickly responded to ask why the three-time All star thought it was a ‘good idea to make light of sexual harassment in an unsolicited message to a reporter.’
Boone responded to say he was sorry he’d offended Cohen but that he was just trying to make a joke.
‘Because it’s a joke and I have no clue who u (sic) are nor do I care. Just sick of all the liberal bs and everyone all the sudden is offended,’ he wrote.
Then a few minutes later he messaged Cohen again and joked about being harassed.
Cohen initially said he wasn’t going to share the direct messages on Twitter, before changing his mind and posting the entire interaction.
Just a few hours after his first apology, Boone messaged again to joke again about being harassed. He is pictured left in 2005, and right in a recent photo
A few hours later Boone issued a public apology to say there are ‘zero excuses’ for those kinds of jokes
Cohen noted also that the messages from Boone were completely unsolicited. He never reached out to Boone for a comment about sexual harassment scandals
A few hours later Boone issued a public apology to say there are ‘zero excuses’ for those kinds of jokes.
‘All, there are zero excuses for what I said earlier. None. It was 100% wrong. It was offensive,’ he wrote.
‘It was inappropriate. It was not remotely productive to any conversation regarding harassment. I apologize and it will never happen again.’
Cohen noted also that the messages from Boone were completely unsolicited. He never reached out to Boone for a comment about sexual harassment scandals.
It is likely that Boone saw that Cohen had commented about the former host of A Prarie Home Companion, Gareth Keillor, being fired due to sexual misconduct.
Keillor is one of the most recent men to be let go due to sexual harassment allegations since a New York Time expose about Harvey Weinstein in October encouraged women to come forward about their experiences.