Heineken Pulls Sponsorship From Fresno Grizzlies Over Anti-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Video
Heineken is the latest company to part ways after a California minor league baseball team, after the team showed a Memorial Day video that featured New York Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a montage of “enemies of freedom,” Yahoo News reports.
Sponsors have been jumping ship from the Fresno Grizzlies, a AAA affiliate of the Washington Nationals, ever since someone in their employ made what the team is describing as a regrettable mistake.
On Memorial Day, as previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Grizzlies wanted to provide an appropriate tribute to America, and to that end, they showed a video between games of a double-header. Not unlike what you’d expect from such a video, there was stirring music, scenes of the Constitution and of fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier, and similar touches. Narration was provided by way of a speech from Ronald Reagan, where he discussed American ideals like courage, sacrifice, and duty.
But when Reagan got to the part about the “enemies of freedom,” the Grizzlies had a problem on their hands. That’s because the video, which you can see below, provided a montage of scenes of those “enemies.” Those enemies included Fidel Castro and Kim Jong Un, as well as anti-Trump protesters and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She appears at the 3:06 mark in the video.
The Grizzlies’ management apologized, saying that the video was provided by an employee who didn’t watch the whole thing through, and that similar mistakes would not be made in the future.
The obscene pettiness of the Fresno Grizzlies management shows that abuse of a public forum can be found everywhere in this convoluted country. I would kindly suggest that the Fresno Grizzlies be boycotted, and their parent MLB team… https://t.co/XIFqGZiFLO
— Gary Hallford (@GaryHallford) May 29, 2019
It appears that the Grizzlies’ apology is too little too late, at least for some of their sponsors. Already, Sun-Maid, a raisin manufacturer, has parted ways with the team. And now Heineken, which owns the brands Tecate and Dos Equis, two of the Grizzlies’ sponsors, are putting the team in their rear-view mirror.
In a tweet, Tecate said that the video contradicts the company’s values of “togetherness.”
“Tecate has always been about togetherness and we do not support the views expressed in the video, that was aired during the Fresno Grizzlies game on Memorial day. We have ended this relationship effective immediately and have let the team know of our decision,” the company said.
Similarly, Dos Equis said that it was “disheartened” over the inclusion of Ocasio-Cortez in the video. Heineken’s flagship brand, Heineken Beer, has also dropped its sponsorship of the Grizzlies.
Some of the team’s sponsors remain, however. Toyota, for example, appears to have accepted the team’s apology, and continues to sponsor the Grizzlies.
