The Colorado Rockies were forced to investigate and publish a statement over the alleged racial slur used by a fan during Sunday’s 13-8 win over the Miami Marlins as the fan was shouting at the Rockies’ mascot — “Dinger.”
Blue checkmarks and Twitter rage escalated the story and the video.
A Denver news reporter who spoke to the Rockies organization said the team interviewed the fan about the incident.
“The Rockies tell me last night’s incident was a fan shouting to get the attention of the Rockies mascot Dinger, not a racial slur,” Steve Staeger, a reporter for Denver’s 9News tweeted Monday.
Marlins outfielder Lewis Brinson said that when he plays the tape back from Sunday’s game at Coors Field, he doesn’t hear a Colorado Rockies fan yelling at the team’s mascot.
Brinson, who is Black, hears the n-word.
“So I watched the video at least 50 times in the past 15-16 hours,” Brinson said Monday, one day after the incident in Denver, via The Associated Press. “I watched it a lot, especially when I heard that he said Dinger instead of the n-word.”
“I personally — this is again my personal opinion — I personally keep hearing the n-word. It’s not that I want to hear it, I never want to hear it. Personally I’ve never been called that in person to my face on the baseball field, outside the baseball field, ever, so I don’t know what my reaction would be if I got called that.