MLB player who attacked Kyle Larson previously defended same racial slur

MLB pitcher Marcus Stroman was hailed as “powerful” for defending Tim Anderson’s malicious use of the N-word last year. He attacked NASCAR driver Kyle Larson for using the same racial slur.

“You can’t suspend someone for language. That’s ridiculous.”

Those were the thoughts of then-Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman when Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson was suspended for using a racial slur — specifically, the N-word — during a scrum between the White Sox and AL Central division rivals Kansas City Royals last April.

During the benches-clearing incident, Anderson called Royals pitcher Brad Keller a “weak-ass f***ing n*****”, according to ESPN. Anderson was hit by a Keller pitch one at-bat after he hit a home run and flipped his bat.

Stroman was hailed as “powerful” for standing up for the man who used the word that should never, ever be said.

Skip ahead to not even one year later.

“He should never be allowed to race again in NASCAR. Said that derogatory word so nonchalantly. Your apology doesn’t matter. Post-career…I’ll fight this man in a UFC event for charity. He needs his ass beat. Would love to hear him say that word in the octagon!”

Those were the thoughts of Marcus Stroman, who now pitches for the New York Mets, when he found out about NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson using the very same word during a virtual race to try to reestablish communication with his spotter.

This goes beyond culture, such as who’s allowed to say the N-word and who isn’t, hard R vs. GA, slang term, term of endearment, etc., because in many cases, African-Americans do still use the term among themselves, and it is seen as acceptable.

But even if it didn’t, Anderson’s situation wasn’t a situation in which two African-Americans were throwing the term around casually. Keller is white, so it wouldn’t have mattered. It was used in a derogatory and vulgar manner to say the least.

Stroman stated verbatim that you can’t suspend someone for language, yet here he is calling for Larson to never compete in NASCAR again for using the same language he literally just defended someone for using in a far more malicious way. Larson’s misdeed didn’t even take place in a NASCAR setting. He was at home playing a racing game. Anderson used the word during an actual MLB game.

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Of course, let’s be perfectly clear: everyone knows that what Larson did was wrong, regardless of the fact that he clearly wasn’t saying the word with the intention of offending anybody.

It’s still wrong, whether it is said maliciously or nonchalantly. You just don’t say that word, period, whether you’re at home or behind the wheel of a stock car. Stroman isn’t wrong, per se, to point that out whatsoever.

But the issue here isn’t “why did Larson get in trouble when nobody else does?” Nobody feels bad for him in this respect. His punishment was appropriate. The issue is the exact opposite: “Why don’t the others also get punished?”

Ask Stroman, I guess.

Sure, Anderson was suspended — for one game on the 162-game MLB schedule.

Given the fact that Stroman so publicly and proudly stood behind someone who used the same word and who used it so maliciously just last year and the fact that he thought even a one-game ban was too harsh because “language shouldn’t get you suspended”, it may have been best to sit the whole Larson incident out.

It’s not that he’s wrong; he’s not. Everyone is thinking exactly what he is thinking. But how serious can he possibly be given his recent comments about the exact same word? He made his stance on the matter quite clear last year.

Double-standards like this one are the exact reason there is so much confusion over why the word is so unacceptable when said by some people but apparently 100% fine when said by others. They do nothing but cause further division and strengthen the racism that still exists within this country and around the world, especially when they involve resorting to social media to tell someone they “need their ass beat” for doing the same thing you just proudly stood behind somebody else for doing.