Oakland Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson has apologized for "unintentionally" performing a Nazi salute on Thursday in celebration of his team's victory.
The MLB coach came under fire after video of the gesture began circulating on social media. In the footage, Christenson is seen raising a stiff arm in a Nazi salute to his players as they walk off the field following their 6-4 defeat over the Texas Rangers. Liam Hendriks pushes his arm down as he walks past but Christenson turns around and raises it a second time at the player.
In a statement released through the team, Christenson said he unthinkingly made the gesture.
"I made a mistake and will not deny it," he said, according to Fox News. "Today in the dugout I greeted players with a gesture that was offensive. In the world today of COVID, I adapted our elbow bump, which we do after wins, to create some distance with the players. My gesture unintentionally resulted in a racist and horrible salute that I do not believe in. What I did is unacceptable and I deeply apologize."
Oakland also released a statement apologizing for the apparent Nazi salute.
"We do not support or condone this gesture or the racist sentiment behind it," the team said. "This is incredibly offensive, especially in these times when we as a club and so many others are working to expose and address racial inequities in our country. We are deeply sorry that this happened on our playing field."
Christenson played in the majors from 1998 through 2003 before switching over to coaching. He joined the Athletics in 2018.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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