The Fresno Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team, was forced to apologize after showing a video at a game during Memorial Day which compared Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to dictators Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro.
“We’re embarrassed we allowed this video to play without seeing it in its entirety first. We unconditionally apologize to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) in addition to our fans, community and those we hurt. It was a mistake and we will ensure that nothing like it ever happens again,” the team said in a statement released Tuesday on Twitter.
— Fresno Grizzlies (@FresnoGrizzlies) May 28, 2019
The video the team played started with a montage of patriotic images with audio of President Ronald Reagan giving part of his inaugural address.
Near the end of the video, the montage of images shows Kim, Ocasio-Cortez, and Castro while Reagan gave his famous line: “As for the enemies of freedom, those who are potential adversaries, they will be reminded that peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will negotiate for it, sacrifice for it; we will not surrender for it, now or ever.”
The team blamed “misleading” editing for the mistake.
“A pre-produced video from outside our front office was selected; unfortunately what was supposed to be a moving tribute ended with some misleading and offensive editing, which made a statement that was not our intent and certainly not our opinion,” they said.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Ocasio-Cortez’s office for comment.
[Opinion: Bring meaning and purpose to your Memorial Day]
Here’s the #video shown by the @FresnoGrizzlies tonight, found on @YouTube: https://t.co/LioDjXNya0
— Carmen George (@CarmenGeorge) May 28, 2019
