{"id":853099,"date":"2026-11-14T03:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-14T03:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/853099\/"},"modified":"2026-11-14T03:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-14T03:39:16","slug":"blue-jays-anthony-santander-breaks-silence-on-islamophobic-posts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/853099\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays’ Anthony Santander breaks silence on Islamophobic posts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander has broken his silence over two weeks after he came under fire for anti-Islam posts<\/a> following Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s U.S. Senate win in Michigan. <\/p>\n

Santander, 32, took to his Instagram Story on Friday night to apologize for his actions, which included resharing posts on his account after the midterm elections that said \u201cAmerica voted for Sharia last night\u201d and \u201cIslam is not peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 All-Star said he now realizes \u2014 after facing heat from both inside and outside the Blue Jays organization \u2014 that he should have been more thoughtful. <\/p>\n

\"TorontoToronto Blue Jays right fielder Anthony Santander hits a two-run RBI single during the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n

\u201cI realize that this content caused hurt and I sincerely apologize. I should have been more thoughtful about what I shared, recognizing the responsibility that comes with having a public voice,\u201d Santander wrote in a statement. \u201cAs a man of faith, it is my belief that every person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of their religion, background, or beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter hearing feedback from those I hurt, I realize that the content I shared fell short of my own convictions. I would like to affirm my respect for the Muslim community and for the dignity and freedom of people of every faith and background.\u201d <\/p>\n

Santander\u2019s initial rhetoric came after the Democrat El-Sayed defeated Republican challenger Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim-American elected to the Senate. <\/p>\n

The Blue Jays quickly distanced themselves<\/a> after Santander\u2019s initial posts, saying \u201cbaseball is for everyone\u201d and is \u201cinclusive.\u201d Toronto general manager Ross Atkins spoke with reporters at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week and reprimanded the slugger<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere really aren\u2019t words to express my level of disappointment with him making those comments. I\u2019ve expressed that to him,\u201d said Atkins, according to Sportsnet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Per statistics from the Canadian government<\/a> from 2021, nearly 10 percent of the population in Toronto is Muslim. <\/p>\n

\"Senator-ElectSen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D-MI) appears on \u201cPBS News Hour\u201d at WETA Television Studios on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026, in Arlington, Virginia. Getty Images<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro said the team met with leaders of the Muslim community<\/a> and denounced \u201call forms of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met with leaders in Toronto\u2019s Muslim communities today, who shared the harm caused by Anthony Santander\u2019s Islamophobic social media posts,\u201d Shapiro said in a statement posted to the team\u2019s X account<\/a>. \u201cThe opportunity to listen and learn was important and reaffirms our beliefs and values as an organization. We condemn Islamophobia and all forms of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santander is entering the third year of a five-year, $92.5 million contract. He\u2019s played just 54 games in Toronto and missed all of 2026 due to injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom this experience, I have learned to ensure that none of my communications promote hate or give the impression that I support hatred, discrimination, or violence against anyone,\u201d his statement concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander has broken his silence over two weeks after he came under fire for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[102261,8125,5,377,2554,102265,78660,4,1239,185,282,70,2553],"class_list":["post-853099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-blue-jays","tag-abdul-el-sayed","tag-al-east","tag-baseball","tag-blue-jays","tag-bluejays","tag-islamophobia","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-mlb","tag-politics","tag-sports","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays","tag-torontobluejays"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117612718576869552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}