Major League Baseball has launched another investigation into a homophobic slur involving one of its players, though the circumstances of this occurrence are a bit hazy. A tweet from the account of Texas Rangers left-hander Derek Holland was sent out Sunday night to his 93,000 followers while Holland was pitching, deriding a follower by way of homophobic slur.
Holland believes his account was hacked while he was on the mound and denied any wrong-doing when approached by the media Monday afternoon, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
"I honestly don't know," Holland said. "I know it wasn't me. I asked my family and my fiancée, and they all said the exact same thing.
"I was blindsided by it. I'm pretty upset with the whole situation."
Holland added that his fiancée is the only other person with access to his account, but was adamant that she did not send the tweet in question. The offending tweet has since been removed from Holland's timeline.
The MLB is now investigating the matter with the help of the Rangers' communications team. If MLB finds that Holland did send the tweet, he could not only face punishment for the content of the tweet, but also for violating the MLB rule that bars players from using social media during a game.
Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar was suspended three games two weeks ago for displaying a homophobic slur in Spanish on his eye-black.