Forty years after baseball legend Hank Aaron was hit with a barrage of hate mail for breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record, he’s reportedly getting nasty letters in the mail again — this time for defending President Barack Obama.
In a recent USA Today interview, the 80-year-old Hall of Famer used some incendiary words to describe the partisan opponents of the president.
“This country has a black president, but when you look at a black president, President Obama is left with his foot stuck in the mud from all of the Republicans with the way he’s treated. We have moved in the right direction, and there have been improvements, but we still have a long ways to go in the country. The bigger difference is that back then they had hoods. Now they have neckties and starched shirts,” he told the newspaper.
Aaron, who is still affiliated with the Atlanta Braves organization, has been the subject of a right-wing backlash.
“Hank Aaron is a scumbag piece of (expletive) (racial slur),” read an email to the Braves’ front office from a man named Edward, according to USA Today.
“My old man instilled in my mind from a young age, the only good (racial slur) is a dead (racial slur),” is how he concluded his message.
Ironically, reports of the racially insensitive messages came out on Jackie Robinson Day, when Major League Baseball was commemorating the 67th anniversary of the integration of their sport.
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