The Boston Red Sox were supposed to give away David Ortiz bobbleheads to fans at Fenway Park Tuesday night, but the team cancelled the promotion because it felt the collector’s items portrayed Big Papi in a “racially insensitive” manner.
After the Red Sox put out a press release labeling the bobbleheads “unacceptable” and informing fans they will receive a different one at a later date, team president Sam Kennedy told Peter Abraham of The Boston Globe that the 15,000 bobbleheads will be returned to the manufacturer.
“It was an inaccurate portrayal of David,” Kennedy said. “It doesn’t really look like David. No. 2, I personally thought it seemed to be an offensive portrayal of him and racially insensitive.
“If I was feeling this way, certainly other people would. So we pulled the plug.”
Not surprisingly, Ortiz was not flattered by the way he was portrayed.
David Ortiz on the bobblehead: "That's supposed to be me?"
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) August 9, 2016
The bobbleheads certainly looked nothing like Big Papi, as you can see in this photo. Handing them out would have been a huge mistake, so the Red Sox made the right choice.
