Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta made a very controversial Tweet on November 9th, the day after the U.S. Presidential election. It was very short and (not so) sweet, as all 140 or character less offerings are, and the political statement made in the micro-blog posting was highly scrutinized and excessively analyzed.
Yesterday, the Cubs were the guests of President and now Chicagoan, Barack Obama at the White House for what will be the final public event hosted by the 44th President of these United States while in office.
Jake Arrieta choose not to attend, but made it extremely clear that his doing so is not a political statement.
“I won’t be on that trip. I would like to, but I’ve got some other things I’ve got to handle,” Arrieta is quoted by the Associated Press who report that Arrieta said he needs to be home and attend to family issues, as his mother-in-law is recovering from brain surgery, and his son Cooper is having a tooth pulled that day.
Family comes first and I highly doubt that anyone would find fault in the pitcher’s decision here. Anyone who does criticize that is extremely misguided.
In regards to that infamous November Tweet, Arrieta said Friday night at the 2017 Cubs Convention that was not expressing any kind of political agenda with it.
“I was simply calling out people that said they were going to leave the country if Trump was elected,” Jake Arrieta told the media.
“It’s not a pro-Trump tweet. It’s not an anti-Hillary tweet. I don’t care who the president is. I want whoever’s president to do a good job.”
“People view us as athletes as being Republican and only caring about lower taxes, which isn’t the case,” Arrieta continued.
“If paying higher taxes is going to benefit the majority of society, I’m fine with that. … I’ll be open and honest. I just want somebody to lead our country and do a good job. Whether it’s Obama, whether it’s Trump or Hillary, I just want to see somebody do a good job for the benefit of everybody.”
So there you have it- Jake Arrieta said he didn’t care who won the presidency and doesn’t care who the president is. Multiple outlets also reported him saying that he did not vote for any Presidential candidate. His quote about public perceptions of athletes and taxes though, is spot on. That’s a great political point he made there- the unfair stereotype most people have about superrich athletes, just assuming that they all vote Republican simply for the tax breaks.
That important point gets overshadowed though as he’s makes it clear that he does not stand with any candidate or any party. It conveys a sense of being apolitical. Of course, his tweet from November, no matter how he describes it today, is political in nature.
He’s calling out prominent Hollywood figures (side note, his boss, Cubs Team President Theo Epstein, is descended from Hollywood royalty, as his grandfather and granduncle won Oscars for writing Casablanca) for protesting a political candidate, and then taking joy in seeing those protestors disappointed and upset. While he may not be a Trump supporter, or a supporter of any political party for that matter, it’s still an inherently political act.
Although the ultimate aim of Jake Arrieta there was to simply point out hypocrisy (none of the Hollywood celebrities who said they would leave the country if Trump was elected actually followed through on that promise), it’s a political action.
While it’s likely mostly for novelty or entertainment purposes first and foremost, but it’s still politically charged.
Arrieta said his tweet was misinterpreted, and that it’s hard to truly express oneself in such a confining medium like Twitter. It’s nearly impossible to argue against those points he made, as (like I said then) only the man himself knows the intention of the message.
However, when he “called the bluff” of those who took a strong political stance, and then reveled in their defeat, it was a bold political statement. While Jake Arrieta may not be someone who is likely to stump for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or even Donald Trump any time soon, he’s definitely not apolitical.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
Follow him on Twitter and Instagram