Bosox star stands by infamous Hitler post
J.D. Martinez stood by his 2013 pro-gun Instagram post featuring Adolf Hitler while speaking to the media Tuesday.
The Red Sox slugger was technically following his manager’s orders a day after the post, using a purported quote by and photo of Hitler to show support for the Second Amendment, surfaced and led to immediate backlash. Earlier Tuesday, Boston manager Alex Cora said he expected his players “to be responsible enough to explain” controversial views they chose to broadcast on social media.
“When I read that it kind of threw me back,” Martinez said of the revival of the post, featuring a photo of Hitler doing the Nazi salute and a quote that Martinez attributed to him — “To conquer a nation, First disarm it’s (sic) citizens.”
“I posted it,” Martinez said. “I love my country. I love this country. I stand by the Constitution and I stand by the Second Amendment and it’s something that I take pride in. It’s something that I’ll back up.”
Martinez said he did not mean to offend anyone with the post, explaining his motivation at the time was to honor his family’s struggle with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Martinez, 31, was born in Miami to parents of Cuban descent.
“As most of you guys know I’m Cuban-American, and most of my family was run out of Cuba because of a brutal dictator,” he told reporters, as recorded by Providence Journal. “It’s terrible. It’s one of those things where I’ll never get to meet some of my family because of it.”
The Red Sox recently spoke to their players at the major and minor league levels about the micro- scope on their social-media activity. Cora put the onus on his players to answer to their publicly shared political and social views.
“Where we’re at right now, people are gonna start searching tweets from 10 years ago,” the first-year manager said. “I think players control their Twitter handles and Instagram and, if it’s there, people are probably going to find it and then they have to be responsible enough to explain why they did it.”
Martinez chalked the sudden controversy surrounding him up to the spotlight he plays in and the recent social media trend.
“Boston. That’s how it got out. I don’t know,” he said. “It’s been up there for a while, and it’s the new hot thing to do now — dig and try to find something to make people look bad, I guess.”