J.D. Martinez made the Instagram Post in 2013, when he was a member of the Astros. Now, as a member of the Reds Sox, Martinez leads the American League in runs batted in
Boston Red Sox slugger J.D. Martinez has become the latest Major League star to have his social media use come under scrutiny after an old Instagram post of his featuring Adolf Hitler was unearthed.
The post, which was made when Martinez was a 25-year old playing for the Houston Astros in 2013, features the phrase, ‘To conquer a nation, First disarm it’s (sic) citizens.’
The quote is often used by gun proponents to point out that Hitler used gun control in an effort to consolidate his power on pre-war Germany. (According to Snopes.com, it is not certain that Hitler actually said that exact quote)
Martinez’s caption reads: ‘This is why I always stay strapped! #thetruth.’
Although the post was written years before he became a major star, first with the Detroit Tigers and later with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Red Sox, the revelation of the pro-gun message is very timely. Martinez grew up in Florida, where several notable shootings have taken place in the last year, including Sunday’s massacre at a mall in Jacksonville that left two dead and several more injured.
The infamous quote is often used by gun proponents who wish to point out that Hitler used gun control in an effort to consolidate his power on pre-war Germany
Martinez has yet to comment on the post.
Scholars have argued that Germany’s gun laws were actually stricter under the Weimar Republic, which preceded Hitler’s reign.
As anthropologist Abigail Kohn wrote in her 2004 book, ‘Shooters: Myths and Realities of America’s Gun Cultures,’ the Jews were not well armed before Hitler, so any gun control aimed to removing their weapons does not apply to the modern gun debate in the United States.
Martinez wrote the post as a 25-year old playing for the Houston Astros. The now-31-year-old designated hitter currently leads the American League with 110 runs batted in
‘Such counterfactual arguments are problematic because they reinvent the past to imagine a possible future,’ she wrote. ‘In fact, Jews were not well-armed and were not able to adequately defend themselves against Nazi aggression. Thus, re-imagining a past in which they were and did does not provide a legitimate basis for arguments about what might have followed.’
The now-31-year-old designated hitter currently leads the American League with 110 runs batted in on the season.
Martinez’s post is sure to draw less criticism than some other recently unearthed Tweets, like those from Chicago White Sox rookie pitcher Michael Kopech.
The tweets – from 2013 when Kopech was 17 – surfaced Tuesday as the budding prospect made his major league debut.
They included Kopech’s use of gay slurs, the n-word, and accusations that some of his critics are gay. At one point he told someone they looked ‘like a Mexican rapist version of Super Mario.’
Kopech has since deleted the tweets.
‘I had to delete some stuff,’ Kopech told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday. ‘Things I said that were immature and inappropriate. I used some poor language in there. Obviously, I’m trying to be looked at as a role model and the last thing I want to do is have some kid look at what I’m saying and take it the wrong way.
One of the top prospects in baseball, Michael Kopech is known for the speed of his fastball, which has touched 105 mph and was unofficially recorded at an incredible 110 mph
Kopech insisted that the tweets do not reflect who he is now or his current beliefs
‘It’s unfortunate that I was ever at that point mentally, but it’s not who I am now. Yeah, I cleaned some tweets up and tried to get rid of them. But, obviously, people saw them.’
Also recently, years-old racist, misogynistic and homophobic tweets from Milwaukee reliever Josh Hader were found during the All-Star Game. Then, Atlanta pitcher Sean Newcomb and Washington shortstop Trea Turner had their own offensive tweets unearthed.
Washington shortstop Trea Turner is one of several players who have had to apologize for tweets they wrote as a teenager
In June, Colorado Rockies first-round pick Ryan Rolison admitted to writing what he described as an ‘immature’ Tweet from 2012, suggesting someone should assassinate then-President Barack Obama.
Donte DiVincenzo shut down his Twitter account after offensive tweets were discovered on his timeline, hours after he led the Villanova Wildcats to victory over the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA championship game. He has since been drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Prior to being drafted seventh overall by the Buffalo Bills in April’s NFL Draft, former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen had several embarrassing tweets resurface.
According to Yahoo Sports, Allen repeatedly used the n-word in the tweets, and in one response to the question ‘Why are you so white?’, he replied: ‘If it ain’t white, it ain’t right!’
Allen’s response in this case was a reference to the sit-com ‘Modern Family.’ Some of the other tweets, he explained to ESPN, either came from rap lyrics and there is a possibility that other tweets were actually written by his friends.
As a teenager, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen repeatedly used the n-word in the tweets, and in one response to the question ‘Why are you so white?’, he replied: ‘If it ain’t white, it ain’t right!’ He has since apologized for those remarks and insists they do not reflect his beliefs