A few days after opening up about how “the mental health thing is tough,” Mookie Betts was linked to a claim about Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting. Within the MLB community, while the Yankees and the Cubs observed a moment of silence in honor of the passing of the activist, Los Angeles Dodgers star Blake Treinen also expressed his condolences. Yet somehow, Betts was inexplicably caught up in a rumor mill. It circulated exactly on September 15 in a Facebook Post.
That post was linked to an article titled “Breaking News: Mookie Betts Doubles Down After Controversial Remarks on the Late Charlie Kirk.” According to the claim about Betts that was published on the ‘Dodgers Faithful’ Facebook page, the Dodgers star had said, “If you want people to speak kindly about you after you’re gone, then you should speak kindly while you’re alive,” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
As per the post claiming it, the 32-year-old major leaguer doubled down, adding, “And I stand by this. Be kind—now more than ever.” To correct the record, this claim is FALSE. Following Charlie Kirk’s death, Betts has made so many such statements.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Notably, the authors of this website that published the story replaced regular English fonts, which are generally used with similar-looking Cyrillic or Greek letters. As absurd as it sounds, it gained the traction of 270,000 likes and 24,000 comments at the time of writing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
That’s not the end of it. Similar rumors were circulated on Vietnam-managed Facebook pages. A made-up rumor claimed that Mookie Betts is willing to pay for all of Kirk’s two children’s living and education expenses.
Perhaps, these fabricated accounts aimed to earn advertising revenue on the articles’ websites linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts. Exactly such a claim was made for David Ortiz as well, after which he himself had to step up and clear the air.
David Ortiz opened up about claims that tie him to Charlie Kirk’s family
After the passing of Charlie Kirk, somehow, many from the US Sports world were brought in on fake rumors. David Ortiz found himself in a similar rumor as Mookie Betts was dragged into. The rumor stated that David Ortiz was open to financially supporting Kirk’s children, when he had not made any such promise in public.
MLB insider Hector Gomez later cleared the air on Big Papi’s behalf. “David Ortiz informs me that the information circulating on social media regarding ‘he will cover the maintenance and education of Charlie Kirk’s children after his death’ is totally FALSE in every sense of the word.” So, to clear the air, Ortiz didn’t step in for any such thing. If anything, he stepped out from these fabricated headlines, per Hector Gomez.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
One possible reason why Ortiz was dragged into this is that Ortiz has a charitable fund named the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. His organization has partnered with CEDIMAT, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital. And just like that, he’s been helping worldwide tremendously.
For years, he’s been helping children fighting congenital heart disease, giving them access to the required medical care. The former MLB player has raised over $2 million in funds and saved over 935 lives.