A's players defend bench coach Ryan Christenson after apparent Nazi salute
A day after Oakland Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson was seen giving players what looked like a Nazi salute after a victory, one A’s player is coming to his defense.
A’s outfielder Mark Canha told reporters Friday that Christenson is “overly respectful” and “overly professional” and that he believes the salute was completely unintentional. Manager Bob Melvin doubled-down, by saying the entire clubhouse supports Christenson and called him a “progressive.”
Bob Melvin says that everyone in Oakland’s clubhouse supports Ryan Christenson and he says he has never before seen anything that would suggest racial or cultural iinsensity from him. Asked to describe Christenson, Melvin said, “He’s progressive.”
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 7, 2020
Christenson told reporters the salute was unintentional after video of the moment spread over Twitter. Both the A’s and their bench coach were immediately met with questions and criticism. Here’s the video:
Full video of @Athletics bench coach Ryan Christenson apparently giving two Nazi salutes #Athletics pic.twitter.com/xK8R4SWnHh
— @laaabaseball (@laaabaseball) August 7, 2020
The A’s issued a statement condemning the message behind a Nazi salute and apologizing. Christenson apologized, saying it wasn’t his intent. He said he had adapted the elbow bump that the team usually does after wins, extending his arm as a way of social distancing. Liam Hendriks, the A’s closer, can be seen in the video directing Christenson to bend his arm, seemingly aware what Christenson was doing was actually very offensive.
Christenson said, “Obviously I wasn’t doing that intentionally. I just blacked out, my mind wasn’t there and I spaced out. I’m sure it looks terrible. I did it but it was not intentional. I don’t know what more to say.”
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) August 7, 2020
On Friday, Canha was asked by reporters for his reaction. He vouched for his coach. Here is Canha’s reaction in full, via the San Francisco Chronicle:
“I understand there’s a lot of criticism being pointed at Ryan right now,” Canha said when asked to address the situation on a video call with reporters Friday. “All I can do is speak to Ryan Christenson’s character for the time that I’ve known him. I’ve known Ryan for two years now, and for those two years Ryan has been, if anything, overly respectful and overly politically correct and overly professional in the clubhouse for as long as I’ve known him. That’s always been something that has actually stood out about his personality. So if there’s one thing you need to know about Ryan Christenson, it’s that. And I fully believe that this was unintentional.”
While many on social media have analyzed Christenson’s reaction when he was told not to make the Nazi salute, Canha offered this interpretation of the moment:
More Canha on Christenson: “I think we have to be very careful when we are interpreting people’s intentions. It looks to me like he had realized what he had done and kind of took a comedic approach to it.”
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) August 7, 2020
Others — including a former A’s employee and a San Francisco Giants beat writer — have spoken up in Christenson’s defense too:
I’m a Jew and son of Holocaust survivors. I do not believe after six years in the majors and a lengthy coaching career Ryan Christenson suddenly decided it would be fun to celebrate a win with a Nazi salute. I believe him. Glad he apologized and understands offense. Let’s move on
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) August 7, 2020
That’s really what this incident comes down to: Do you believe Christenson’s explanation? Or is the salute such a horrible thing that no explanation can excuse it?
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