The News
Friday 19 of April 2024

California team loses sponsor due to Ocasio-Cortez video


AP Photo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,File - In this April 5 2019, file photo, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York. A minor league baseball team in California has apologized to Ocasio-Cortez for a Memorial Day tribute video that lumped her image with those of Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro. The Fresno Bee reports Tuesday, May 28, 2019, that the Fresno Grizzlies said the scoreboard video was
AP Photo, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,File - In this April 5 2019, file photo, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York. A minor league baseball team in California has apologized to Ocasio-Cortez for a Memorial Day tribute video that lumped her image with those of Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro. The Fresno Bee reports Tuesday, May 28, 2019, that the Fresno Grizzlies said the scoreboard video was "supposed to be a moving tribute." (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A company has cut ties with a California minor league baseball team that played a Memorial Day video that included an image of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with those of Kim Jong Un and Fidel Castro.

The Fresno Bee reports the raisin company Sun-Maid terminated its sponsorship of the Fresno Grizzlies on Wednesday.

The company acknowledged the Grizzlies apologized but said terminating the sponsorship was the right thing to do.

The Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals has said it failed to properly vet the video found on YouTube.

The video has patriotic images and excerpts from President Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural speech.

When Reagan mentions “enemies of freedom,” the video shows the North Korean leader, Ocasio-Cortez of New York and the late Cuban leader.