Jose Altuve was one of a number of Houston Astros players who apologized for the team’s sign-stealing scandal on Thursday, but one local news station in Los Angeles clearly is not ready to forgive the star infielder.
Altuve and Alex Bregman both issued very scripted apologies at the start of a press conference the Astros held. While showing the clip of Altuve’s apology on live TV, KTLA in Los Angeles ran a graphic at the bottom of the screen that described Altuve as “Astros Cheater.”
"Astros cheater" pic.twitter.com/nEe8Z9VYy1
— Samantha Cortese (@SamanthaCortese) February 13, 2020
As some have pointed out, a Pittsburgh-area news station fired an employee who was responsible for labeling Tom Brady a “known cheater” in a TV graphic a year ago. It’s unclear if there will be any repercussions for whoever was responsible for the Altuve graphic.
The Astros, of course, defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, so they don’t have many fans in the LA area. Dodgers supporters also probably did not appreciate what Houston owner Jim Crane had to say about the illegal sign-stealing impacting the outcome of games.
Major League Baseball has confirmed that the Astros cheated, so calling their players cheaters seems pretty fair.
The Houston Astros are confirmed cheaters and deserve an asterisk. Send that message by wearing our Houston Asterisks T-shirt! You can buy it here:
