AOC says she was sent death threats after being dubbed 'enemy of freedom' in baseball team video

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has responded to a baseball team that aired a video in which she was referred to as an “enemy of freedom” alongside North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, saying she received death threats.

The New York congresswoman took to Twitter after she was made aware of the video, which was played during a minor league nationals game by the Fresno Grizzles.

What began as a “moving tribute” to the US armed forced ended in sequence with a Ronald Reagan speech playing in the background, and as he references “enemies of freedom” and “potential adversaries”, an image of Ocasio-Cortez is showed, in between pictures of dictators.

Linking to an article about the video, Ocasio-Cortez wrote: “What people don’t (maybe do) realize is when orgs air these hateful messages, my life changes bc of the flood of death threats they inspire.”

I‘ve had mornings where I wake up & the 1st thing I do w/ my coffee is review photos of the men (it’s always men) who want to kill me.

She added: “All of this is to say that words matter, and can have consequences for safety.

F”or those who believe in “free speech”: whose free speech do you believe in?”

Bc some folks using free speech to defend racism are also supporting folks passing laws to allow running over protesters.

In a statement the Fresno Grizzles apologised to AOC and called it a “mistake that will never happen again.”

We are aware of the problem with the Memorial Day tribute video shown in the ballpark between games of Monday’s doubleheader.

A pre-produced video from outside our front office was selected; unfortunately what was supposed to be a moving tribute ended with some misleading and offensive editing, which made a statement that was not our intent and certainly not our opinion.

We apologise to our fans and to our community for the error and for not properly vetting the video. We apologise to those who have served and are currently serving the country for the undue distraction on such a solemn day.

The organisation went on to address Ocasio-Cortez directly, writing: “We're embarrassed we allowed this video to play without seeing it in its entirety first. We unconditionally apologize to Rep. Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) in addition to our fans, community and those we hurt. It was a mistake and we will ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.”

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