Red Sox: Former top draft pick released after series of racist, transphobic, antisemitic tweets

Red Sox release Brett Netzer after series of disturbing and bigoted tweets

The Boston Red Sox were forced to deal with an unpleasant situation over the weekend when minor leaguer Brett Netzer went on a disturbing Twitter rampage on Saturday.

Over the last 24 hours, Netzer’s tweets were rife with racism, transphobia, and a lot of antisemitism. The shocking barrage included several direct attacks on Sox president of baseball operations, Chaim Bloom, who is a proud and devout Jewish man. Netzer named him numerous times, calling him a “hypocrite” for unknown reasons. He even posted a photo of his now-former boss.

https://twitter.com/BrettNetzer/status/1497427599445803008?s=20&t=HPQjFZixeOUqpMoTVpYUMA

Most of the tweets were too inappropriate to embed here, but you won’t have trouble finding them.

Brett Netzer tweets: Red Sox release former draft pick

Netzer also decided to reveal that he is, anti-pets, in particular, anti-dogs, which is puzzling, since he owns a dog.

https://twitter.com/megglee__/status/1497689273746661378?s=20&t=qlHu3JHxyrydvo7EgiwcYA

The Athletic‘s Chad Jennings confirmed late Saturday afternoon that the Sox released Netzer immediately. Boston Globe‘s Alex Speier soon added that the Sox had done their due diligence, confirming that the tweets were, in fact, Netzer’s and that he had not been hacked, as many suspected, as his behavior was so shocking.

Netzer last played for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs in 2019. After the 2020 minor league season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, they placed him on the restricted list on May 4, 2021. According to sources in the organization, the move happened because Netzer refused to wear a mask or get vaccinated, and started publicly ranting against Bloom.

While it’s unfortunate and horrible that this situation took place at all, it’s encouraging to see that the organization handled it immediately. The Red Sox have long been criticized (and rightfully so) for racist incidents. The Netzer situation is an example of progress, as his behavior was neither condoned nor tolerated.