Jarren Duran suspended 2 games by Red Sox for shouting homophobic slur at fan who heckled him

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Jarren Duran suspended 2 games by Red Sox for shouting homophobic slur at fan who heckled him

2024-08-13 11:26 Last Updated At：11:30

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox suspended Jarren Duran for two games on Monday without pay after he shouted a homophobic slur to a fan behind home plate who heckled him in a loss to the Houston Astros a day earlier.

The exchange was caught on a live microphone during the broadcast when Duran — who was 0 for 2 with two strikeouts at that point in the game — was at the plate in the sixth inning. A fan at Fenway Park can be heard shouting “Tennis racket! Tennis racket! You need a tennis racket!”

Duran turned his head toward the fan and replied: “Shut up,” followed by a curse word and the slur.

Duran issued an apology through the team Sunday night, saying he “used a truly horrific word” and felt “awful.”

Standing in the middle of the clubhouse before he answered questions Monday, Duran started by apologizing to fans that he said reached out to him and said: “they were disappointed in me.”

“I’m sorry for my actions, and I’m going to work on being better,” the 27-year-old outfielder said.

“We all love Jarren,” teammate Rob Refsnyder said after hitting a walk-off single in Boston's 5-4, 10-inning win over Texas on Monday night. “He'll learn from this. We're all human. We all make mistakes, but he'll learn from this.”

President and Chief Executive Officer Sam Kennedy said the club was in touch with Major League Baseball after the game.

“It’s a really difficult day, disappointing,” Kennedy said, speaking to the media outside the clubhouse. “I’m proud of the way the organization addressed the situation, and I’m proud of Jarren for acknowledging his horrific mistake.”

Standing next to Kennedy, Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow said the team still had work to do.

“I think it is striking evidence that while we have made strides and done great work, we haven’t done nearly enough,” he said. “I think that an incident like this is an important reminder that there’s ton of progress that still needs to be made.”

Duran said the fan had been “heckling me the entire game, and I said something I shouldn’t have said.”

Duran said he immediately turned and apologized to home plate umpire Jordan Baker and Houston catcher Yainer Diaz “for my actions. They were right there, they heard me say it. I’m assuming they cut the mic because of my inappropriate word.”

Red Sox manager Alex Cora said: “There’s a lot of work to be done, and I’m here to help him out.”

Cora said he had spoken to Duran during the day.

“He made a big mistake, he’s living with it, right,” Cora said. “As a manager, I’ve got to do my job. As a person, there’s more from my end. … It’s what I can do as a person to support him and help him to be better.”

Duran had played in all of the team's games so far this season, hitting mostly leadoff and is one of the club's top players, batting .291 with 14 homers and 58 RBIs. He was the MVP of the All-Star game in Texas, the fifth Red Sox player to win the award.

He said there was no intent behind the word, and it was just “the heat of the moment.”

“I think what’s more important is what happens going forward,” Kennedy said. “We’ve worked really hard the past two and half decades to make sure that Fenway Park is a place where everyone is welcome.”

Boston said Duran’s salary during the suspension will be donated to PFLAG (Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Duran earns $760,000 and will lose $8,172.

The exchange with the fan came after Duran was honored during a pregame ceremony as the team’s recipient of the Heart and Hustle Award, which recognizes one player per team who “demonstrates a passion for the game and best embodies its values, spirit, and traditions.”

“I think the suspension is just discipline, and we need to hold people accountable,” Kennedy said. “What I would like to see is more education, more understanding, more dialogue around the negative impact of hate speech.”

Because the team suspended him, the Red Sox were allowed to fill his roster spot.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

More torrential rain and flash flooding expected in heavily waterlogged South and Midwest

2025-04-05 22:48 Last Updated At：22:51

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Another round of torrential rain and flash flooding was coming Saturday for parts of the South and Midwest already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also spawned some deadly tornadoes.

Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S., rapidly swelling waterways and prompting a series of flash flood emergencies in Missouri, Texas and Arkansas. The National Weather Service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach major flood stage, with extensive flooding of structures, roads and other critical infrastructure possible.

Many communities on Saturday were surveying the aftermath of tornadoes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least seven people, and the weather service warned that more twisters were possible in places this weekend. An additional weather-related death was also reported Friday — 9-year-old boy was swept away in flooding and killed, Kentucky’s governor said.

And interstate commerce is affected — the extreme flooding across a corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis — which have major cargo hubs — could lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.

The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of NWS forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.

Downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky, reopened early Saturday after floodwaters from the Little River receded, giving a much needed reprieve, but still more rainfall was on its way Saturday and Sunday, Mayor James R. Knight Jr. said.

Torrential rain since Wednesday had turned the downtown of the city of 31,000 into a lake Friday before the bands of weather shifted slightly.

“We got a little rain but most of it went north of us,” Knight said Saturday. “Thank goodness on that. Gave us a little break.”

Flash flood emergencies continued to be issued Saturday across Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, with more heavy rains and damaging winds in the mix. Weather officials in Tennessee, at least, predicted that the crescendo of severe weather risks would subside after Sunday.

“The finish line is in sight!” NWS Nashville posted on social media.

The worst of it was expected Saturday afternoon and evening in Hopkinsville, where predictions of another 3-4 inches of rain had people filling more sandbags to hold back another potential surge of floodwaters, Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said Saturday.

“We anticipate this water coming back quickly if it comes down quickly,” he said. “There are supposed to be three or four bursts of heavy rains throughout the day.”

A light drizzle was falling on the city as he spoke. Local jail inmates were filling sandbags, and officials allotted 20 bags for each resident, he said.

Hundreds of Kentucky roads were impassable Friday because of floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides, and the number of closures were likely to increase with more rain Saturday, said Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding in the eastern part of the state.

Swollen rivers and tributaries also swamped some parts in Ohio on Friday, and Gov. Mike DeWine said about 70 roads were closed. The southern half of the state was expected to see moderate flooding, which has not happened in four years, he added.

Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.

At least two reports of observed tornadoes were noted Friday evening in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the NWS. One, near Blytheville, Arkansas, lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out,” after it was hit by a tornado with winds estimated by the NWS of up to 160 mph (257 kph). Advance warning of storms likely saved lives as hundreds of people sheltered at a courthouse, the governor said.

Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County.

Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia; Obed Lamy in Hopkinsville; John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.