Two-time World Series champion and former New York Yankees pitcher David Wells blasted woke sports with a direct attack on sportswear giant Nike, anti-American race-baiter Colin Kaepernick, and the idea that men should be allowed to play in women’s sports.
During a Sept. 19 appearance with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business Network, the retired MLB star took aim at multi-national corporations that he says are trying to jam politics down the throats of sports fans. And he added that the pressure is forcing many players to remain silent for fear of cancel culture.
It wasn’t like this when he was first playing in the 1990s, Wells said, adding, “And now with these companies that are coming out and jumping on board and trying to change the game and put a lot of politics in the game, to me, I think it’s confusing a lot of the players because they’re afraid to speak up.”
“But you know what? If I was making 30, 40 million a year and it’s guaranteed, I’m going to speak out, speak your mind,” he added. “But to me, these companies are putting a really big damper, I think, on the game of sports because of the political stance that they’re putting on these guys.”
Wells, 60, was part of two World Series teams, the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 and the New York Yankees in 1998, in the latter of which he pitched the team’s historic second perfect game. He retired from baseball in 2007.
He went on to blast Nike for giving anti-American race-baiter Colin Kaepernick such a huge platform and attacked Bud Light for teaming up with transgender activist and TikTok influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“Be what you want to be. I don’t have a problem if you want to be transgender, you want to be this, you want to be that, that is fine,” Wells said.
But when it comes to selling and marketing of products, that is another thing, he continued. “But when you’re going to go in marketing and then you’re going to push that narrative and you’re going to push those values towards the other side and neglect the everyday consumer. A lot of people drink Bud Light, and to me, it’s just the wrong message to send.”
“They’re sending the wrong message. They’re doing it wrong,” Wells explained. “You’re going to lose the customers, which Bud Light already did… But to me, Bud Light, they screwed up big time and they’ve lost it.”
Wells also praised former NCAA championship swimmer Riley Gains for sticking up for women’s sports against the onslaught of “transgender women” trying to compete as women.
“She is so spot on when it comes to transgender in sport, men playing women’s sports,” Wells said of Gaines. “You just you can’t do that. It’s not right, and it’s dangerous. If I was to say: I’m going to switch over and I’m going to go play women’s sports, I’m going to hurt somebody, especially if I’m throwing 95… they need to start their own leagues, if that’s the case, if that’s what they want to do, and make it fair.”
Wells, the founder of veteran-based Perfect 33 Foundation, also blasted Nike and Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee during the national anthem and protesting against the country.
“When Kaepernick took the knee against our national anthem, and I’m a huge, huge military supporter, that’s what my foundation is all about, and for Nike to jump on board and reward this guy for that and the things that are going on, I told myself if I was playing in today’s game,” the former Yankees pitcher said, “and we had Nike jersey, I’d tape it up. I’d cut a hole in it,” he told Bartiromo.
Wells has taken his disgust with Nike to the MLB, too. In 2023, while participating in a New York Yankees Old Timer’s Day event, he covered the Nike logo on his uniform with tape.
David Wells, at Yankees Old Timers' Day, has a piece of tape covering the Nike logo on his Yankees uniform. Asked why, he said: "I hate Nike!" and if he was playing today, he'd cut the logo out and just have a hole in his jersey. Wells convinced some other players to do it too.
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) September 9, 2023
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