MLB Boycott Trends on Twitter After League Defends Anthem Kneeling

One of the most heated controversies in all of American sports is back this week after Major League Baseball resumed play under the shadow of civil unrest here in the United States.

The late start to the season was due to the global coronavirus pandemic that has affected nearly all major sports on the planet.  The MLB has resumed as of a few days ago, but with major changes to the game.  There will be no fans in the stands, travel is being restricted between cities, and extra innings will play under slightly different rules in order to speed up the games.

And while some of these changes are controversial enough to have the most diehard baseball fans a bit irked, that outrage is nothing compared to the reaction that came after the MLB this week defended players who chose to kneel during the National Anthem.

Major League Baseball came out in defense of players who knelt during the national anthem on Monday evening, taking on critics and tweeting in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

As Breitbart News reported, several members of the San Francisco Giants took a kneeduring the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner during a preseason game hosted by the Oakland Athletics before an empty stadium filled with cardboard cutouts.

Then, when fans began to bristle at the idea online, the MLB pushed back.

Supporting our players and supporting equality is not political.

— MLB (@MLB) July 21, 2020

Supporting human rights is not political.

— MLB (@MLB) July 21, 2020

These rebukes from the league had #BoycottMLB briefly trending on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.