Torii Hunter made some news late last week when he said that his contract included a no-clause trade with Boston due to being on the receiving end of numerous racial slurs at Fenway Park.
On Tuesday,Hunter was a guest on WEEI in Bostonto detail some of that experience.
“When I went to Boston it was so consistent,” Hunter said. “This is my experience. So when people say, ‘Oh, that’s not true, give me proof,’ or whatever, that’s stupid. That’s stupid. Because you’ve got proof; people have been saying it forever. Just, we’re not listening.”
Hunter detailed a specific incident where he claims that kids in the crowd at Fenway chanted the N-word at him, while adults in the same section laughed and seemingly approved.
“It really dawned on me when I saw four or five kids chanting the N-word in the outfield [at Fenway],” Hunter said. “This is my story, and it’s not a lie. And when I heard ‘N-word, N-word,’ just chanting this name, these kids, and I looked at these grown-ups and they are just clapping and laughing. I’m pointing like, ‘Tell them to shut up. That’s bad.’ They could say, ‘You suck Torii. They could say, ‘You can’t hit water if you fell out of a boat.’ But that N-word I don’t like. I’m from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and I hated it. And so when I looked at the grown-ups and they didn’t do anything, I mean, that’s not a Red Sox issue. That’s an issue in society.”
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