As part of David Ortiz' season long farewell tour, the Boston Red Sox planned to celebrate him before tonight's game against the Yankees with a Big Papi bobblehead giveaway.
However, the Red Sox organization deemed the bobbleheads "racially insensitive" and not appropriate for distribution, so they've scrapped David Ortiz Bobblehead Night altogether.
Truth be told, his teeth are VERY jacked up on this bobblehead but we're talking about bobbleheads here, people! Those free giveaways hardly ever look anything like the person that they're supposed to resemble, let alone an "accurate portrayal." The fans just want the stupid toy, regardless of what it looks like.
“It was an inaccurate portrayal of David,” said team President, Sam Kennedy. “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.”
The figurine in question [shown above] depicted Ortiz' holding a microphone in one hand with his other fist in the air, just the way it was when he famously said, "This is our f*cking city," following the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013.
But, the Sox will now be returning all 15,000 David Ortiz bobbleheads to the manufacturer with hopes that a new, appropriate portrayal of David Ortiz could be created before the season concludes.
You can read the Red Sox statement regarding the cancellation of David Ortiz Bobblehead Night below.
PS: John Wall's bobblehead giveaway from last season, which the Wizards actually went along with, is the very definition of "an inaccurate portrayal." That lazy eye is in its own zip code.
[Via]