I am not surprised by family and Cubs patriarch Joe Ricketts’ racist emails.
This is a man who obviously has been racist since birth, but the question really begs are the people in charge of the Cubs racist too? You want people to believe their father didn’t pass down any of this to his sons?
Are they just smart enough to not put their thoughts into emails? While you ponder that let’s take a look at how racist Joe Ricketts really is courtesy of the Athletic.
In the latest edition of “The Billionaire’s Inbox,” reporter Molly Osberg collated emails that show what the patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs likes to send out. Previous editions of this series focused on media, politics, family business and government policy.
There were rumors that racist emails were coming out and some people with the Cubs were aware that Splinter had them, according to a team source.
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts released a statement to The Athletic through his spokesperson on Monday night:
“WE ARE AWARE OF THE RACIALLY INSENSITIVE EMAILS IN MY FATHER’S ACCOUNT THAT WERE PUBLISHED BY AN ONLINE MEDIA OUTLET. LET ME BE CLEAR: THE LANGUAGE AND VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THOSE EMAILS HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR SOCIETY.
“MY FATHER IS NOT INVOLVED WITH THE OPERATION OF THE CHICAGO CUBS IN ANY WAY. I AM TRUSTED WITH REPRESENTING THIS ORGANIZATION AND OUR FANS WITH A RESPECT FOR PEOPLE FROM ALL BACKGROUNDS. THESE EMAILS DO NOT REFLECT THE CULTURE WE’VE WORKED SO HARD TO BUILD AT THE CHICAGO CUBS SINCE 2009.”
Joe Ricketts released a statement Monday night after the initial publication of this article:
“I DEEPLY REGRET AND APOLOGIZE FOR SOME OF THE EXCHANGES I HAD IN MY EMAILS. SOMETIMES I RECEIVED EMAILS THAT I SHOULD HAVE CONDEMNED. OTHER TIMES I’VE SAID THINGS THAT DON’T REFLECT MY VALUE SYSTEM. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT BIGOTED IDEAS ARE WRONG.”
The kids used daddy’s money to buy the team, but alas are trying to use he doesn’t work here, so don’t blame us.
The issue is how many people in power feel this way, but just don’t speak on it via email?
A lot more than you think.
Flip the pages for just a small sample of the emails.