The claim that fans in Boston called Baltimore Orioles’ Adam Jones the N-word is similar to the unproven claims that tea party supporters similarly taunted Rep. Andre Carson back in 2010. As in 2010, today no proof is needed by the media.
This month Baltimore Orioles center fielder Adam Jones made the serious charge that fans in Boston’s Fenway Park taunted him with the N-word, but since his claims caused every sports writer to then attack Boston, some have been asking for more proof of the incident than just Jones’ unsupported claim. The incident is reminiscent of the time Breitbart News founder Andrew Breitbart offered a $100,000 reward for proof that tea party supporters called several black congressmen the N-word nearly on the steps of the Capitol back in 2010. Like today, it was proof that never came in 2010.
On May 1 of this year, the Orioles’ Jones insisted that Red Sox fans at Fenway seriously mistreated him.
“A disrespectful fan threw a bag of peanuts at me,” Jones told USA Today after Baltimore’s victory over the Red Sox. “I was called the N-word a handful of times tonight. Thanks. Pretty awesome.”
The accusations served as a launching point for liberal sports writers to insist that racial epithets are a problem rampant in baseball not just in Boston, but throughout the league. Some sports reporters even began demanding the public outing of any fan who is seen and heard committing such an outrage.
But, it wasn’t long before the complete lack of any substantiating evidence began to make some curious if such incidents have ever really occurred at Fenway.
For one, Albert Breer, who writes for the Monday Morning Quarterback and lives in the Boston area, announced his skepticism of Jones’ claims.
“Is it horrible to want some proof? I dunno. I’ve probably been to 200 games at Fenway in my life. Never heard a slur yelled at a player,” Breer tweeted on May 2.
Breitbart News’ own Curt Schilling also questioned the veracity of the claim that Red Sox fans could be so hateful.
Schilling, the host of Breitbart’s “Whatever it Takes” told Boston’s WEEI, “If he wants to maintain the lie he made here, that’s fine. No one denies racism exists, but when people like him lie about an incident and others just take him at his word, it perpetuates a mythical level of racism.”
In any case, the accusation that someone could be taunted with the n-word is one of the most serious charges in American society today, and it should require extraordinary evidence to prove it. The accusation should not be thrown around lightly, or merely accepted at face value without proof.
This incident is similar to Andrew Breitbart’s famous offering of a $100,000 reward for any video or audio of tea party supporters yelling the n-word at Congressmen Andre Carson, John Lewis, and others, back in 2010. The incident supposedly occurred as the elected officials exited a House office building near the Capitol during the height of the argument over Obamacare.
Breitbart offered his huge reward for anyone that could prove Rep. Carson’s claims that tea party supporters were racists and yelled the N-word at him “15 times” during his walk to the Capitol. But, it was proof that would never come even in a day when cell phone videos were already ubiquitous, and even in the face of the media that were blanketing the protests that day. No video or audio ever came to light to prove Carson’s claim.
But, Carson and Lewis and their media lapdogs repeatedly threw the charge around despite the complete lack of proof that it ever occurred. And at some point, the media even began to accuse people of being racist merely for asking for proof. As Andrew Breitbart wrote at the time, “He calls protesters racist, and if you ask him to prove it, you’re a racist, too.”
Breitbart went on to make two other points that are apropos to this purported incident at Fenway Park this month.
“The false accusation of racism grants left-wing hooligans carte-blanche” to attack and dehumanize those with whom they disagree, Breitbart wrote. “That’s what the intention was with the false accusation.”
Breitbart was also right about the media’s response to the claims Rep. Carson made in 2010. “The absence of a real investigation by a press that played up the accusations is a more-than-tacit admission that they were hoping the allegations were true,” he said.
Andrew’s comment is mirrored to a “T” in the way the sports media today immediately jumped to Adam Jones’ claims that he was taunted with the N-word in Boston. No proof was needed. Jones’ accusation was all the sports media needed to accept it as fact. It is because they want to believe it and no proof is necessary.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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