This is a statement by the Giants: "Earlier this month, we reached out to Aubrey Huff to let him know that he will not be included in the upcoming 2010 World Series Championship reunion. Aubrey has made multiple comments on social media that are unacceptable and run counter to the values of our organization. While we appreciate the many contribution that Aubrey made to the 2010 championship season, we stand by our decision."
Huff played first base and outfield on the 2010 team and retired after the 2012 season. He played the final three seasons of his 13-year career with the Giants.
The social media comments in question were the ones in November and last month. Back in November, he posted a tweet that had a picture of him holding a shooting target with holes. The captain said, "getting my boys trained up on how to use a gun in the unlikely event @BernieSanders beats @realDonaldTrump in 2020."
The other tweet that was referenced was back in January, when he posted a since-deleted tweet about kidnapping Iranian women so "we can bring them back here as they can us and feed us grapes." He later tweeted that his post was a joke, but the damage was already done and by then, the Giants felt that this was enough to tell Huff to get out and not be invited to the reunion.
So the bigger question is: Did the Giants make the right decision in telling Huff he's not invited? Well, Huff honestly doesn't believe it's the right decision, and told The Athletic that he was "Quite frankly, shocked. Disappointed. But if they want to stick with their politically correct, progressive bulls---, that's fine." However, in my view and my take, I think this speaks to more than just politics about what the Giants are doing, and it's also why I don't believe anybody should be in Twitter.
The Giants are an organization that prides itself on diversity and inclusion and making sure everybody has a seat at the table. They feel that will open itself up economically and socially so that nobody feels left behind. Honestly, not everybody will agree with that. They will probably say they need to make the right decision for their organization and not bow to the media coverage they may get if they go or don't go down that path, but I'm fine with it, if they want to do it. I would never make comments like this, and especially not on Twitter. This is why I left Twitter 18 days ago, because of situations like this, where you say something you don't mean to say and then you have to face the consequences later. It's also because Twitter is not a place where you think through your thoughts before you say them, and Huff clearly didn't think through before going on and making these comments. Not only that, but the conversation he had earlier Tuesday on 95.7 The Game didn't do him any more favors. So while I'm not going to side 100% with the Giants either, they did what they had to do to make sure they continue to be an inclusive organization for all.
That's why Antonio Brown and Aubrey Huff are examples of why Twitter is the worst place in the world for thought and conversation, because it really doesn't help their cause and it just makes them look worse. What Huff did was unacceptable and if he had just come out publicly and say, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said these things," then I would've leaned more towards forgiving them, but once you cross the line and double down on your comments because you're looking for validity from people who agree with you, then you face an uphill battle, and that's what Huff did when he went on radio and then promptly got call off when he went too far.
Huff needs to learn that the culture is constantly changing and these kind of comments, especially on Twitter, don't help your situation, especially if you're looking in the larger scheme of the world. I'm not going to sit here and say I feel bad for him, but these sort of comments don't fly in the 21st century, so he better learn that quick or else he's going to be part of the left-behind culture and that's not a place you want to be in, or a group that you want to be a part of.
