J.D. Martinez is the latest professional athlete to come under criticism for past social media activity, after a 2013 Instagram post — in which the Red Sox slugger promoted a counterfactual meme invoking Adolf Hitler to argue against gun control — resurfaced this week.
Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy told Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley that the team had spoken to the 2018 Triple Crown contender Martinez.
“We spoke with JD and he explained he was expressing his view on a political issue,” Kennedy said in a statement to Buckley, adding that players have a right to express their own political and social views under the MLB’s social media policy.