MLB Commentators Call Cubs Rookie Matt Shaw 'Weird' for Attending Charlie Kirk's Memorial Service

[00:00] In one game, he want to go to to to

[00:03] celebrate the life of one of the biggest

[00:05] Christian martyrs to ever live. And

[00:07] y'all use the word weird.

[00:09] >> Was later revealed that he had been

[00:11] given permission to attend Charlie

[00:13] Kirk's funeral. And I don't want to talk

[00:15] about any of the politics of it. Really

[00:17] strikes me as weird.

[00:19] >> I put this on everything that if

[00:23] somebody did this for George Floyd, they

[00:25] would never in their wildest dreams say

[00:28] it's weird.

[00:32] For those of you who want to support uh

[00:33] Charlie Kirk and his family uh through

[00:36] having merch, we have a limited edition

[00:40] uh tumbler that we created, the best

[00:42] quality tumbler that we could find.

[00:44] Period. And we got a special one. We

[00:46] only doing 100 of these and 100% of the

[00:49] profit will go to um Charlie Kirk's

[00:52] family. And with this Tumblr, you get

[00:55] two shirts. You can pick the size of the

[00:57] shirt that you want. We're going to

[00:58] throw some other goodies in the bag. We

[01:00] only made a hundred of them. Just so you

[01:02] guys know, uh we have been able to raise

[01:05] a significant amount of money for them.

[01:07] I'm going to get with uh Erica cuz I

[01:10] want the weights for obviously Charlie

[01:12] to be buried and all that stuff to be.

[01:13] I'm going to get with Erica so we can

[01:15] coordinate um what she want us to do

[01:17] with the money. It's definitely going to

[01:19] be 100% her decision. Right now, I I

[01:22] don't know how to I I got to do some

[01:24] numbers to estimate, but we're we're

[01:25] probably right around a half a million

[01:28] that's going to be donated. Um my goal

[01:31] was to write her a million dollar check

[01:32] from us and let her decide where she

[01:35] wanted to go, whether it's for her kids

[01:37] to go to college or whether it's for

[01:39] Turning Point USA or whatever it is. And

[01:42] God put this on my heart to do it. And

[01:44] and and to be honest, I only thought

[01:47] that there would be like a couple

[01:49] thousand people that buy the shirts or

[01:50] whatever and then we'll we'll just

[01:52] donate it to the family. I mean, it went

[01:54] crazy. We literally have 35 volunteers a

[01:57] day that have come to the headquarters

[01:59] and helped in folding these shirts

[02:01] because these are way more orders than

[02:03] we've ever gotten in a short period of

[02:05] time. And we had over 19,000 orders. We

[02:09] have printed over 40,000 shirts. 100% of

[02:12] the pro the profit will go directly to

[02:15] the family. So, as soon as we finish it

[02:18] up, we're going to try to with her

[02:20] blessing, I will continue past this

[02:22] point with her blessing and we'll be

[02:26] able to to give her a larger check at

[02:27] Afest. So, that's my goal to do that.

[02:30] And so, thank you guys for helping.

[02:32] Thank you guys for participating. God

[02:33] bless you and God bless America. Chicago

[02:37] Cubs. Matt Shaw uh did a heroic thing in

[02:40] my personal opinion. You know, it's

[02:42] funny. When I was at Pastor Jackson's

[02:45] church, matter of fact, y'all need to go

[02:47] check that video out. Maybe we'll upload

[02:48] it. I wanted Pastor Jackson and his

[02:50] channel to get all the views for it. Um

[02:53] but I put it in the community tab of my

[02:55] speech uh regarding Charlie and

[02:57] regarding Israel at Pastor Alan Jackson

[02:59] Church, the World Outreach Church. When

[03:01] I was there, I could have sworn I saw a

[03:03] famous golfer there. When I was looking

[03:05] in the crowd, I saw I thought I saw him

[03:07] and I said, "No, that may not be him."

[03:10] But anyway, with that being said,

[03:13] there's a lot of celebrity athletes that

[03:15] are conservative. They can't openly say

[03:17] it. They don't project it. But it is

[03:19] also good when you see people that say,

[03:23] "I don't care what you think. I'm going

[03:24] to stand for what's right now. They

[03:26] going he going to make me buy a jersey."

[03:27] I don't normally wear a jersey with

[03:29] another man name on my back. I'm not

[03:31] done limiting. I don't got another man

[03:33] name on my back, but in a celebrity or

[03:36] in celebrating a man with courage, I

[03:38] like this dude. You know what? He

[03:39] probably followed me. I think he

[03:41] followed me. All right, let's play the

[03:43] clip.

[03:43] >> Um, and then I mean Charlie, he was uh,

[03:46] you know, he was someone that I met at

[03:48] the apartments in Arizona where I lived

[03:51] and then someone who uh was one of the

[03:53] biggest Cubs fans I ever met. and uh he

[03:55] text me after every game, you know,

[03:57] great win for the Cubbies and he was

[03:58] super super supportive of uh us and

[04:02] obviously someone who was really

[04:03] faithful. Um so we connected on that

[04:05] front as well. Um but yeah, I mean his

[04:08] uh his wife Erica had texted me asking

[04:11] me if I would if I would come to the uh

[04:13] to the funeral and um you know I felt as

[04:16] though it was something that was really

[04:18] important for me to do. Are you

[04:19] concerned about the backlash because

[04:21] there is a lot of pol politics involved

[04:23] with this?

[04:24] >> Yeah, I mean absolutely I'm not

[04:26] concerned at all. No. Um, you know, my

[04:28] connection with Charlie was through our

[04:29] faith. Um, and that's something that

[04:30] drives me every day. That's the reason

[04:32] why, you know, I'm able to do what I do

[04:34] every day. Um, and that's something I'm

[04:35] extremely thankful for. Um, you know, I

[04:38] know without my faith and and without

[04:39] the many blessings I've been given in my

[04:41] life that I wouldn't be here able to

[04:43] talk to you guys, able to help this team

[04:45] eventually go and win championships. Um,

[04:47] so that's something I feel really really

[04:49] blessed about. Um, so you know, whatever

[04:51] backlash comes is is okay. You know, um,

[04:54] I feel feel strong about my faith and

[04:56] that that what was meant to be

[04:57] happening.

[04:59] >> Now, how you get backlash for going to a

[05:01] h how do you get backlash for going to

[05:03] Charlie Kirk memorial?

[05:06] They didn't say they didn't talk about

[05:07] nothing but Jesus except Trump. You

[05:09] know, he had to do his own thing. But

[05:10] everybody else talk about nothing but

[05:11] Jesus. Who would be mad at you for doing

[05:14] that?

[05:17] Oh, Nick said the commentators.

[05:20] The commentators mentioned something

[05:22] about this.

[05:25] >> Put him on the show

[05:26] >> in a row. Matt Shaw leads off for the

[05:28] Cubs. He had a base hit his first time

[05:30] up.

[05:32] >> Shaw had Cubs World in a tizzy this

[05:35] weekend when he was not here for the

[05:38] Cubs game with the Reds.

[05:41] game they lost one- nothing and in which

[05:44] his lack of presence was felt. It was

[05:47] later revealed that he had been given

[05:49] permission to attend Charlie Kirk's

[05:51] funeral.

[05:53] And I don't want to talk about any of

[05:54] the politics of it, but the the thought

[05:56] of leaving your team in the middle of a

[05:59] race for any reason other than a family

[06:03] emergency really strikes me as weird.

[06:06] >> It's unusual. I think it's um

[06:08] unprecedented, at least from um my

[06:12] experience as a player, and I think it

[06:15] made it a little bit more unusual that

[06:17] it was not revealed until after um it

[06:22] came to issue because he was uh thought

[06:26] to be in the dugout and maybe available

[06:29] and then was not and that's how it was

[06:32] revealed. So it became

[06:34] >> maybe more of a story than it h could

[06:36] have been had it been addressed from the

[06:38] beginning.

[06:38] >> Shaw strikes out to start the inning. Do

[06:41] you think the fact that he's a rookie

[06:42] changes the equation at all and makes it

[06:46] more or less egregious?

[06:50] >> As I said, I think it's something that

[06:52] would certainly be unusual during my

[06:55] era. I But then again, there was no

[06:58] paternity leave. There was a bereavement

[06:59] leave

[07:01] >> um when I played at all. You showed up

[07:04] and you know just found a way to get

[07:07] through work. But

[07:11] >> that has changed. That has changed.

[07:13] >> Well, but I thought it was telling that

[07:15] the reason that they didn't tell anybody

[07:18] and that they had to play a man short

[07:21] was that the situation did not qualify

[07:25] for baseball's bereavement list.

[07:27] treatment is direct,

[07:30] right?

[07:31] >> I think that in of itself gives you a

[07:33] clue as to how it was received by a lot

[07:36] of people.

[07:37] >> Uh he uh Charlie was his family member.

[07:41] For you dummies, when you're in the

[07:44] faith, we all brothers and sisters in

[07:46] Christ. So when his brother in Christ

[07:48] lost his life and he was asked by his

[07:51] other family members in Christ to go to

[07:53] the the funeral and y'all play 400,000

[07:56] games, he a rookie. Is he the is he the

[08:00] designated hitter?

[08:01] >> He's in the starting line.

[08:02] >> He's in the starting lineup. Okay, I'll

[08:04] give him that. But man, god that y'all

[08:06] can't win. One y'all lost by one thing.

[08:09] Y'all blame it on him. the man in one

[08:12] game, y'all play 400,000 games and in

[08:15] one game he want to go to to to

[08:18] celebrate the life of one of the biggest

[08:21] Christian martyrs to ever live. And

[08:24] y'all use the word weird. I put this on

[08:28] everything

[08:30] that if somebody did this for George

[08:32] Floyd, they would never in their wildest

[08:35] dreams say it's weird. I promised on

[08:39] everything.

[08:40] If them commentators had said it was

[08:43] weird for somebody to go attend George

[08:45] Floyd's funeral as a black player,

[08:50] they wouldn't say nothing.

[08:52] It is. They need to I I I believe

[08:56] that they should make an apology

[08:59] for using for being insensitive

[09:02] and saying weird that he was asked by a

[09:07] family member, which was Charlie's wife,

[09:10] to come attend a memorial service for

[09:12] Charlie Kirk. And y'all use the word

[09:14] weird.

[09:16] No, dude. It's weird for you to think

[09:18] it's weird.

[09:19] You guys can comment on the logistics of

[09:22] bereavement leave or whatever the case

[09:24] may be when it comes to the MLB, but to

[09:26] make a personal insertion that you

[09:28] personally think that is weird,

[09:32] that's subjective. You guys are supposed

[09:34] to be announcing objective to for the

[09:37] most part.

[09:39] You guys can't insert biases

[09:41] in one player's actions.

[09:44] You should be talking about the player

[09:45] that cost them the game that probably

[09:48] I'm pretty sure they had a lot more to

[09:49] do with that than going to a funeral. I

[09:52] get the addressing of the the

[09:54] unprecedented nature, but to say you

[09:56] think it's weird to go to a man's

[09:58] funeral, this is one of the biggest

[09:59] Christians to to be martyed and he knew

[10:02] Charlie personally. These people so

[10:04] weird to me. They won't say nothing

[10:06] about them kneeling or none of that.

[10:08] That you can kneel during national

[10:10] anthem. You can do all kind of other

[10:11] woke stuff, but if you dare go to the

[10:13] funeral of Charlie Kirk, it's weird and

[10:16] it's just strange. And they spend, I

[10:17] don't know, two or three minutes talking

[10:19] about it. They ain't even talking about

[10:21] his swing. They talking about that and

[10:23] they go, he struck out.

[10:25] I don't know, man. Maybe I'm too

[10:26] hypocritical over it, but I I think it's

[10:28] completely foolish and stupid.

[10:31] [Music]