Read more at the Tampa Free Press
TAMPA, Fla. -U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) sent a letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred asking him if he’ll relinquish his personal membership at Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club, after Manfred announced the MLB would move its All Star Game and Amateur Draft out of the state because of its revised election laws.
Noting MLB has no problem conducting business as usual with nations that prohibit democratic elections, like China and Cuba, as well as its partnership with Tencent, a company that facilitates the persecution of dissidents in China, Rubio accused Manfred of engaging in nothing more than woke corporate virtue signaling.
“Taking the All-Star game out of Georgia is an easy way to signal virtues without significant financial fallout. But speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party would involve a significant loss of revenue and being closed out of a lucrative market.” Rubio wrote. “I am under no illusion that Major League Baseball will sacrifice business revenue on behalf of its alleged corporate values. Similarly, I am under no illusion you intend to resign as a member from Augusta National Golf Club. To do so would require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to the woke corporate virtue signaling of moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta.”
“I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game and MLB Draft,” Commissioner Robert D. Manfred Jr. said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”
The new voting law requires a voter to have identification to vote and makes it illegal to take food or water to voters in line, but still allows folks to bring their own food and water.
Rubio added, “In the end, as a citizen of a free nation you, and Major League Baseball, have the right to speak out against laws in the U.S. you disagree with, even if it is on the basis of false information. What would be truly bold, however, is if you would speak out on behalf of the voiceless who face arbitrary imprisonment, forced sterilization, coerced abortions, rape, and other horrific acts at the hands of one of your business partners. I am under no illusion that Major League Baseball will sacrifice business revenue on behalf of its alleged corporate values.”