A local news outlet refused to run an ad from a Catholic group that criticized the Los Angeles Dodgers over the team’s decision to honor a group of anti-Catholic transgender nuns, a story that outraged people of faith and made national headlines.
The ad featured the MLB franchise’s proud history of advancing the integration of baseball with clips of Jackie Robinson who broke the sport’s color barrier along with the trans activist group’s performance “art” of the depiction of a sacrilegious sexual degradation of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The one-minute spot which was titled “The Dodgers Have Lost Their Way,” is part of a $1 million campaign by the organization, CatholicVote, to raise awareness about the team’s embrace of the LGBTQ+ group despite its anti-Catholic hate and was to run in the days leading up to Friday’s Pride Night game against the rival San Francisco Giants, but it was deemed to be “too controversial” by Spectrum SportsNet LA, which carries the team’s games.
(Video: YouTube/CatholicVote)
“We weren’t shocked that the Dodgers’ affiliate canceled our ad because the Dodgers have shown repeatedly that they only care about the feelings of these extremist bigots,” CatholicVote’s director of the Catholic Accountability Project, Tommy Valentine told Fox News Digital.
“We pivoted quickly and already have millions of views of the ad across various platforms. We will not be silenced, and we will not stand idly by while the Dodgers show their contempt for Catholics,” he said.
“Playing Jackie wasn’t popular. Hate and disrespect were popular, even in law. But the Dodgers were right. They helped power a movement and changed the nation,” the ad says. “Their leadership, class and style of play were the envy of baseball. ‘The Dodger Way.’”
“A fringe group like this honored, awarded, celebrated? There is no equality in mocking religious women. No tolerance in hate, no pride in anti-Catholic bigotry. Mocking Christians is not the Dodger way,” according to the ad.
Fox News Digital reviewed emails that show that the network originally agreed to air the ad “during the pregame, the game itself and postgame if it could blur a brief, obscene image of one of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence allegedly swinging a sex toy.”
After the organization agreed to blur the image, the outlet rejected the ad with management believing that the “subject matter” was “too controversial.”
Another ad critical of the team, a spot by Senator Marco Rubio’s Reclaim America PAC, was also rejected by Spectrum SportsNet LA.
(Video: Fox News Digital)
“The Dodgers are honoring an anti-Catholic hate group as community heroes, but they’re afraid of airing an ad showing these so-called sisters out in the community,” the Florida Republican told Fox News Digital. “It tells you everything you need to know about the Dodgers, Major League Baseball, and the media. They are no longer demanding tolerance, they now promote intolerance and even hatred of Christianity.”
Despite the blatant censorship, the message did get out and large numbers of peaceful protesters turned out on Friday prior to the team’s honoring of the anti-Catholic hate group.
LOS ANGELES- A huge group of Catholics and Christians have already arrived outside of Dodger Stadium to pray in protest of the Dodgers honoring the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
A drag group that has repeatedly mocked Christ and the Catholic faith: pic.twitter.com/oHPIeHoCI3
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) June 16, 2023
LOS ANGELES- Thousands of Catholics are now marching toward the front of Dodger Stadium chanting “Save Our Children!”
Catholic organizers shared they wanted to make a stand for Christ where everyone could see them: pic.twitter.com/WC7YL1O3n0
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) June 17, 2023
BREAKING: Thousands of Catholics have shut down the main entrance to Dodger Stadium on Vin Scully avenue in protest of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence being honored tonight.
They are now lining the sidewalks and have taken over the entire block: pic.twitter.com/F5CSDvuap8
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) June 17, 2023
“The LA Dodgers’ choice to honor a group that exists to mock, sexualize and pervert the teachings of the Catholic faith is wildly out of line with their tradition of inclusivity, love and their history of fighting bigotry,” Valentine said.
The Dodgers went on to lose the Pride Night contest after the trans nuns were honored, with the Giants posting a 7-5 victory in extra innings.
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