(CNN) – Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar has been suspended for three games after a photo emerged from Saturday’s game showing him with a Spanish homophobic slur in his eye black, the substance ballplayers put below their eyes to reduce the sun’s glare.
Escobar acknowledged being the author of the message, but was reticent about the underlying meaning of the words.
“It was not something I intended to be offensive,” Escobar said through a translator. “It’s something I just put on the sticker on my face.”
The team said it met with Escobar, Major League Baseball officials and the MLB Players Association and decided the shortstop will be suspended without pay. The salary he forfeits will be donated to the groups You Can Play and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD.)
“The Blue Jays want to reaffirm that discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated,” the team said in a statement announcing the suspension.
Escobar said his actions were not intentional or directed at anyone in particular and he wanted to apologize to anyone he offended.
“I don’t have anything against homosexuals,” Escobar said. “I have friends who are gay. I’d like to ask for the apology of all those who have been offended by this.”
Maria Cristina Cuervo, a Spanish professor at the University of Toronto, told Toronto Star columnist Cathal Kelly Tuesday that the word “is derogatory, but it’s not necessarily homophobic,” and in some Spanish-speaking countries such as Argentina, it is more of a teasing insult.
Escobar did not say specifically what he thought the words on his eye black meant, but added the phrase was something that’s “been said amongst Latinos.”
“It’s not something meant to be offensive,” he said. “For us, it didn’t have the significance to the way it’s being interpreted right now. It’s a word used often with teens.”
When pressed further by reporters, Escobar said that the words he wrote have different meanings depending on how you say it and who you say it to. Reporters then asked what he specifically meant.
“I didn’t mean to say anything with it,” he said.
Escobar added he has several gay friends, including the person who decorates his house and who cuts his hair. He said those people told him they were not as offended as the larger community.
“There’s a different understanding in the Latin community” about the word, he said.
Though Escobar displayed the words on his eye black during Saturday’s game in Toronto against the Boston Red Sox, the incident did not gain attention until Monday when a photo of Escobar was posted on Flickr by a Blue Jays fan, identified by the Toronto Star as James Greenhalgh, a season-ticket holder who sits behind the Blue Jays dugout in Rogers Centre.
In addition to the suspension for three games and handing over his salary for that span, Escobar will also take part in an outreach initiative to help educate society about sensitivity and tolerance to others based on their sexual orientation.
Manager John Farrell said he does not think there is a problem in Major League Baseball with homophobia. Farrell also said that nobody questioned any writing on Escobar’s eye black because he has done it before.
“Because it’s frequently done, nobody paid attention to it,” Farrell said.
Escobar said he had no problem with the suspension that was handed down.
“I feel bad,” he said. “I’m embarrassed.”
MLB commissioner Selig said in a press release he supported the Blue Jays‘ decision to suspend Escobar.
“I consistently say that Baseball is a social institution with important social responsibilities and that I expect those who represent Major League Baseball to act with the kind of respect and sensitivity that the game’s diverse fan base deserves,” Selig said in a statement. “Mr. Escobar has admitted that his actions were a mistake and I am hopeful he can use this unfortunate situation as an opportunity to educate himself and others that intolerance has no place in our game or society.”
The league added a non-discrimination based on sexual orientation clause to the collective bargaining agreement it signed with the players’ union in November.
Last year, Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell was suspended for two weeks without pay after he was accused of making vulgar, homophobic and threatening comments at a Giants-Braves game April 23 in San Francisco. McDowell also was fined and told to go through sensitivity training.
“Major League Baseball is a social institution that brings people together and welcomes all individuals of different races, religions, genders, national origins and sexual orientations into its ballparks. Conduct by people associated with MLB that shows insensitivity to others simply cannot and will not be tolerated,” Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement after the McDowell incident.
Escobar, 29, is from Havana, Cuba. He is a veteran of seven major league seasons, both with the Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.
He did not play in Sunday’s game in Toronto after suffering “flu-like symptoms,” according to the Star report. The Blue Jays did not have a game on Monday.
The Blue Jays return to Toronto for a home game Sept. 27.
