TORONTO BLUE JAYS have suspended short-stop Yunel Escobar for three games after he featured a homophobic phrase on under-eye stickers for his side’s game against the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
As reported yesterday by TheScore.ie, the Cuban baseball star was called to task after the phrase ‘TU ERE MARICON’ (You’re a faggot) appeared on the eye-black stickers, which are used to reduce the glare from stadium lights.
The Blue Jays suspended the 29-year-old after receiving input from MLB Coimmissioner Bud Selig.
Escobar, for his part, explained that he did not mean to upset anybody by the crudely word eye stickers. Through a translator, he said:
It was not something I intended to be offensive. It was not anything intended to be directed at anyone in particular.
“For (Latinos), it doesn’t have the significance to the way it’s being interpreted now,” he added. “It’s a word without a meaning.”
For more on the fall-out from Escobar’s unfortunate choice of face sticking, view here:
YouTube credit: ESPN
As Canadian media agency TSN reports, the NFL has banned eye-blacks after stars such as Tim Tebow, who quoted bible verses, began to personalise them.
