{"id":369129,"date":"2026-06-21T13:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/369129\/"},"modified":"2026-06-21T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T13:35:14","slug":"sf-giants-players-react-to-doj-investigation-over-pride-night-hat-warning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/369129\/","title":{"rendered":"SF Giants’ players react to DOJ investigation over Pride Night hat warning"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Giants\u2019 Pride Night controversy took another turn this week when the United States Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation<\/a> into whether Major League Baseball violated the religious rights of the three players who wrote Bible verses on their caps last Friday.<\/p>\n

Amid the allegations lofted at the league, Giants relievers Ryan Walker and JT Brubaker told reporters in Miami that they did not feel discriminated against as Christians.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s discrimination,\u201d Brubaker told the California Post<\/a> and San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> before Friday\u2019s 4-3 loss<\/a> to the Marlins. \u201cIt\u2019s just people getting a hold of something and turning it into something. I just wanted to put my message and my beliefs [out there], and that was the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday afternoon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon argued that MLB may have violated workplace protections against religious discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by warning Brubaker, Walker and Landen Roupp not to write on their hats.<\/p>\n

MLB stated on Monday that \u201cwriting on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we have warned the players about future violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league followed up on Tuesday, emphasizing that the players were warned because of the league\u2019s uniform regulations, which \u201cprovides in part that, \u2018(a) player may not write, attach, affix, embroider or otherwise display nicknames or messages on apparel or playing equipment \u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

MLB did not warn the players because of the content of their messages.<\/p>\n

Reliever Sam Hentges opted not to wear the Pride Night hat altogether, opting for a regular black cap with an orange \u201cSF\u201d logo.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I\u2019ve worn it before,\u201d Walker told reporters in Miami. \u201cThis was a time where I had to reflect on that and not be fearful myself to stand for what I believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie became the latest politician to weigh in on Thursday, telling the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a> that he was \u201cincredibly disappointed and upset\u201d about Brubaker, Roupp, Walker and Hentges\u2019 decision to protest the Pride Night caps.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we need Pride. We need to lean in and we need to keep educating people, even here in San Francisco,\u201d Lurie told the Chronicle.<\/p>\n

In response to Monday\u2019s warning, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley (R) sent a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred demanding that the league answer for a \u201cpattern of discriminating against Christians within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vice President J.D. Vance posted about the issue on social media, too. In response to a post about Brubaker, Roupp and Walker being warned, Vance wrote on Twitter\/X, \u201cTrump won we don\u2019t have to do this anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) also made a statement, writing, \u201cThis isn\u2019t an issue of religious freedom. People have a right to whatever religious beliefs they want \u2014 even if those beliefs dehumanize other people \u2014 but they don\u2019t have a right to hijack their employer to promote those hateful beliefs at a job-related event. MLB didn\u2019t warn these players for their faith. Rather, it warned them for violating the rules of their employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comedian Rob Schneider offered to pay any potential fines, but none of the four players have been fined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Giants\u2019 Pride Night controversy took another turn this week when the United States Department of Justice launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[2135,184,7,23726,402,181,1334,395,182,101,396,4820,88,90,89,127],"class_list":["post-369129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-baseball","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-giants-hq","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-peninsula","tag-pm-report","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-county","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}