News (USA)

Padres rehire fired DJ after plea by Gay Men’s Chorus

Padres rehire fired DJ after plea by Gay Men’s Chorus

The San Diego Padres baseball team has reconsidered its decision to terminate a deejay who admitted he was to blame for the humiliating experience endured by the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus last weekend.

Following an investigation by Major League Baseball that found no “malicious intent” and a plea by the chorus to give the young man responsible his job back, Dj Artform posted on his Facebook page that he has been invited to return to the team.

As Outsports reported, Dj Artform publicly apologized and explained how he made the “rookie mistake” of playing a recording of a female performer singing the National Anthem, from a previous night, instead of the recording of the chorus that the 100 gay men standing in center field had planned on accompanying live. He explained himself to the hosts of a local radio station, Scott and BR on The Mighty 1090AM:

“In a moment of panic I went to the first thing I saw that said anthem and unfortunately the female vocal artist is what played over the PA system and it was an extremely embarrassing moment…Those are my mistakes and I own up to them. I hold myself accountable. My stomach was in knots. I should have intervened. I should have turned it down. There’s a lot of ‘coulda woulda shouldas ‘that we could have done to avoid the incident.”

One of the mitigating circumstances was that his supervisor had been involved in a car accident the previous day and wasn’t there to watch his back when he played the wrong recording. Dj Artform explained on his Facebook page that the error was especially painful because some fans taunted the chorus as they left the field, telling them “You sing like a girl,” and he wrote that he has friends and family in the LGBTQ community.

“I’m extremely humbled and honored for the tons of support of individuals who truly know my character and for those who had no idea who I was but believed in me from the start… I truly hope we can continue to build bridges with and between the LGBT community and Major League Baseball, as well as athletics in general. Once again, I am truly sorry for the incident that occurred and for all those negatively affected, the Chorus in particular. I’ve exposed my heart to the world and I appreciate you all rallying behind this San Diegan.”

 

 

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