It has not been a good week for Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass, and as you might expect, Twitter is having a field day.
Already, Bass was something of a punchline among Jays fans, both for his abysmal performance on the mound early this season, and for mid-April’s infamous ‘popcorn incident,’ where Bass complained via a since-deleted tweet that a United Airlines employee had asked his pregnant wife to clean up the popcorn their daughter spilled all over the floor of the plane.
As it turns out, it’s tough to be both an entitled millionaire and a below-replacement-level pitcher and enjoy the support of fans.
But then, on Monday of this week, Bass took things to the #NextLevel, so to speak.
Mere days away from the start of Blue Jays Pride Month, Bass shared a video on his Instagram account calling for the boycott of Target and Bud Light, a boycott which has become the rallying cry of a movement in the United States best described as the opposite of Pride, one that calls support for the LGBTQ+ community, in the words of the post Bass shared, “evil” and “demonic,” and those doing the supporting, “the enemy.”
The post caused an uproar among large segments of the Blue Jays fan base, many of whom suddenly found themselves as “the enemy” of a player on their favorite team. It can probably be assumed that the uproar extended to the boardroom, since Budweiser, the makers of Bud Light, are one of the Jays’ premier sponsors.
Caught in a storm of his own making, Bass appeared in front of the media before Tuesday’s game and offered the kind of cookie cutter quasi-apology we’ve come to expect in these types of situations. Unsurprisingly, an ‘apology’ which started with “I’ll make this quick” and ended with a refusal to take any questions only inflamed the fan base further.
How bad has it gotten for Bass? Well, if Twitter is any indication …
Anthony bass’ pr: distract them from the popcorn incident
— mar (@mmmm__kay) May 30, 2023
Anthony bass: I am a homophobe
Anthony bass’ pr: pic.twitter.com/lKQHZwWzH0
Anthony Bass checking his judgement … pic.twitter.com/fZh1IgdkGs
— LDsports (@LDsportsniagara) May 30, 2023
Truly Anthony Bass is a modern day martyr, tasked with facing humankind's most formidable foes: popcorn and accountability.
— Ruth Kapelus (@RuthKapelus) May 30, 2023
Lol that we were getting mad at Anthony Bass for complaining about a flight attendant. We were so naive then.
— hilary (@hiphilary) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass, @UnitedAirlines ain't cleaning this mess up for ya.
— NFR (@NeilWRhodes) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass is calling for a boycott of Target.
— Tyrone (@TheTyronePalmer) May 29, 2023
Judging by his 4.50 ERA and 4 walks/9, it looks like he’s been boycotting targets all season long. https://t.co/VuhvobtFTF
Anthony Bass needs to spend less time crying about rainbows and more time learning how to fucking pitch. pic.twitter.com/px4X3gVoIU
— TC (@TyC53) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass seeing that the stadium in Minneapolis is called “Target Field” pic.twitter.com/4M06SfXpuj
— Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Enjoyer (@backgoesupton) May 29, 2023
Anthony Bass addressing the media at 3:30 pic.twitter.com/L6I2oqNrVH
— Gate 14 Podcast (@Gate14Pod) May 30, 2023
Hazel Mae’s face saying it all at the end of Anthony Bass’ statement. pic.twitter.com/VBDIN2ZKTG
— Joshua Hind (@joshuahind) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass media availability at 3:30 pic.twitter.com/JCcHxYnylV
— 🇦🇶 (@GenoHOF) May 30, 2023
That Anthony bass speech was definitely written by chatgpt
— Justin Drummond (Taylors version) (@eldrummundo) May 30, 2023
replay of the Anthony Bass “apology” for anyone interested:#BlueJays pic.twitter.com/g5ZWB2DXtN
— DΛVID™ 🇨🇦 (@bjfanaccount) May 30, 2023
And now Bass can shift his focus to some other acronyms, like DFA
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) May 30, 2023
me to Anthony Bass https://t.co/45JE9o5dmm pic.twitter.com/uSaCky0bMW
— ℳatt (@matttomic) May 29, 2023
Can we “Catch & Release” Anthony Bass. (See what I did there) #NextLevel
— 🇺🇦 Collingwood Jays 🇨🇦 (@CollingwoodJays) May 29, 2023
Can we trade #AnthonyBass and #MikeWilner for a Juan Soto bobblehead and a used #GabrielMoreno jersey?#NextLevel
— NM's #1 Blue Jays fan #1 Daulton Varsho Fan (@ort_jacob235) May 30, 2023
trevor bauer and anthony bass in the japanese minor leagues or wherever the fuck they’re playing https://t.co/zb3xypTsyy pic.twitter.com/AhktXzSHZ8
— 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙮 🥫 (@m4rkys4uc3) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass pic.twitter.com/te9szkExrX
— GamerGeek (@GGeek0910) May 30, 2023
Anthony Bass is Ass.
— Shannon (@shannonrivers26) May 30, 2023
Want to go further than the Twitterverse? Many Jays fans are now going full Bills Mafia and using the opportunity to donate to LGBTQ+ charities such as PFLAG in Anthony Bass’s name.