MLB Donates to Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Quickly Retracts

MLB donated $5,000 to Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign despite recent controversial comments which has led major American companies to demand their money back from the campaign.

On Friday, the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB) donated $5,000 to Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s campaign, following the lead of San Francisco Giants co-owner Charles B. Johnson. This comes just four days after Senator Hyde-Smith made some controversial comments in regards to her opponent Mike Espy.

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, this past week Senator Hyde-Smith, in thanking a cattle rancher for his support at a speaking event, said: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.”

This evoked Mississippi’s dark history of lynchings and has placed Senator Hyde-Smith firmly on the defensive. While Senator Hyde-Smith has since said she was sorry if she “hurt anybody’s feelings,” she could not – or would not – articulate what she was sorry for.

The move by MLB has lead the likes of Rob Neyer to lead the charge on twitter urging subscribers to #CancelMLBTV, promising his followers that he will retweet anyone who screenshots their cancelled subscription.

Neyer took the initiative by cancelling his own subscription and posting it on social media.

As of the moment I am writing this (11:58 PM EST), Neyer has retweeted 18 cancellations and counting.

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This should raise some concerns for MLB who saw attendance drop for the first time in 15 years last season, according to Forbes. Also, for a business that relies heavily on sponsorships, losing customers could potentially hurt the bottom line for MLB.

In fact, major corporations have already begun to ask Senator Hyde-Smith for their campaign donations back. None of the confirmed agitated donors are MLB sponsors… yet.

Here’s a list of donors who want their money back:

• Walmart
• Union Pacific
• Leidos
• Boston Scientific
• Aetna
• AT&T
• Pfizer

I’ll leave you with this tweet by former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications under President Obama, Ben Rhodes:

Update

After receiving blowback across social media, he Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball has officially asked for their donations back, per Buster Olney.