TORONTO — More than a week after Anthony Bass shared an anti-LGBTQ+ video on Instagram, the Blue Jays reliever expanded on his initial apology and said he was sorry “for any harm (or) hurt that I made towards the Pride community,” while defending his “personal beliefs.”
Bass, who apologized to the public last week with a brief statement, took questions for the first time before Thursday’s game against the Houston Astros. The Blue Jays will hold their annual Pride Weekend on Friday and Saturday and the club has planned for Bass to catch the ceremonial first pitch on Friday.
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The right-hander, who has a 4.95 ERA in 22 appearances this season, said he had a “productive” meeting with Pride Toronto’s executive director Sherwin Modeste this week to learn about the LGBTQ+ community in Toronto.
“Before I said anything, I really wanted just to listen to what he had to say. Those were my intentions going into the meeting, and I felt like it was very productive,” Bass said.
Last Monday, Bass shared a post from Ryan Miller, who runs the account “dudewithgoodnews” on Instagram, that cited Biblical verses as a reason to boycott Target and Bud Light for their recent support of LGBTQ+ initiatives and the community. The video used the phrase “this is evil, this is demonic” in regard to selling Pride-themed merchandise.
Bass said he initially posted it multiple times because “the video reflected my (Christian) beliefs.” He said he did not view the video as hateful initially.
“That’s why I posted it originally,” he said. “When I look back at it, I could see how people can view it that way. And that’s why I was apologetic.”
Bass was asked if his views on the message of the video had changed in the past 10 days.
“The video itself, obviously, I took it down,” he said. “I just felt like it was too much of a distraction, right? But I stand by my personal beliefs and everyone’s entitled to their personal beliefs, right? But also I mean no harm toward any groups of people. And I felt like taking that down the second time was the right thing to do and not being a distraction. As a team, our job is to win baseball games. And that’s my focus.”
Bass was asked if he understood why fans, especially those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community, were upset by his actions.
“I guess not being sensitive to obviously what that community goes through. Especially when they make such a big decision with their life,” he said, later clarifying he was referring to the decision to come out. “And that’s something that I do apologize for because I have no ill intentions of ever being hateful or harmful towards any group. I care for all people and I stand by that.”
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In the wake of this, Bass has been booed by fans at the Rogers Centre during his relief appearances. He said he “expected” that type of reaction and understood it, but said, “I hope moving forward in time, hopefully, those boos will subside and hopefully turn into cheers.”
Bass said he “totally” understood why some members of the public are not willing to forgive him. “I just want them to know that I’m working hard on myself,” he said.
“I want all the fans to know that baseball is for everyone. I said that last week and I stand by it and I mean, this is a welcoming environment and they should feel welcome here. Not judged,” Bass said. “And that’s not something that I do and I want them to know that I am sorry for my posting. They should feel welcome here.”
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins also addressed the situation on Thursday.
Atkins and Blue Jays manager John Schneider met with Bass last week, where according to the GM, they expressed “how disappointed and how angry we were.” Atkins said Bass apologized to them and his teammates “for creating any harm and for hurting others. That was not his intent and his emotion was very strong as was mine. I was personally hurt myself and he felt my disappointment and anger. So it was a very charged exchange.”
The GM said he felt Bass’s “accountability to be authentic” and the organization chose not to issue any internal discipline against the reliever.
“That was the most significant piece is that he was accountable,” Atkins said. “He wanted to apologize, not just to me, which was very important, but more importantly to our community and this community. Without that, as I said, we’d have a very different outcome. And then I think the willingness to do something about it, being paramount and seeing that step taken is a good first step.”
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As for the message the organization has for fans who may feel disinclined to participate in this weekend’s festivities in the wake of the Bass incident, Atkins said: “We continue to work hard to make sure this is an inclusive environment and one that we will not stand for behavior that makes it otherwise.”
In terms of further steps, Bass said he intends to keep an open line of communication with Modeste, the executive director of Pride, and would be open to participating in a Pride event in the community. Bass said he will be “supportive and accepting of the celebration” of Pride at the Rogers Centre this weekend.
“There are things that happen that we have to react to like the case of Anthony Bass, and we will react and we will respond,” Atkins continued. “We feel like with his apology and him being accountable and taking the steps to become more aware that we’re one step closer to being a more inclusive environment. We understand that that never ends and we want to be a part of that. Very much see that as a significant part of our jobs here.”
(Photo of Anthony Bass: Brad Rempel / USA Today)
