Former MLB Pitcher Rocker to Newsmax: Free Speech Yields to Business Interests

Former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker, while discussing late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel's suspension, told Newsmax Saturday that his own suspension in 1999 for controversial remarks proves free speech ends when businesses start losing money.

“So basically, what happened to me? I get it,” Rocker said on Newsmax. "You take free speech on the one hand. Yes, free speech if it is costing your employer money, fans revenue, etc. I see my situation is very similar. What just happened to Jimmy Kimmel?”

Rocker was suspended by then-Commissioner Bud Selig after his comments about New Yorkers, immigrants, gay people, and minorities were published in a Sports Illustrated article in December 1999.

Following an appeal, the suspension and fine were significantly reduced.

Rocker told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda" that while free speech was invoked widely in defense of comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s recent firing, he received little support when his case erupted 25 years ago.

"Major League Baseball is a business," he said. "The Atlanta Braves are a business. And to silence the naysayers, please don’t boycott us. We’ll teach John Rocker a lesson.”

Rocker argued the issue is not censorship but economics.

“The left just fails to realize Major League Baseball is a business. So is ABC, Disney. And so was a late-night show. It is not a free speech issue. It is: your rhetoric is offending our customers, and we’re losing money,” he said.

Turning to public reactions following the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Rocker said he was disgusted by celebrations on social media.

“It obviously disgusts me. The left, you know, in my opinion, not all, but I think there’s a stark difference between the left and Democrats. I have Democrat friends,” he said. “But those on the left, the Antifa ones, the ones that are cheering, applauding for the assassination of a 31-year-old father of two, they’re soulless people. They’re just godless, soulless people.”

Rocker said both parties contribute to heated rhetoric, but the extremes on the left are more prone to violence.

“There have to be changes. There can only be changes if both sides want to change,” he said. “I’m not going to use an absolute and say, well, nobody on the right ever does stuff like this, because of course we do. But it’s an 80 over 20, a 90-10 percentage rate.”

He added: “A liberal says something. What’s the worst we do? We call them stupid. We say they’re imbeciles. We say they’re uneducated. That’s about the worst. We do. What they do on the left: they surround you mob style. They may burn a police car, set a police station on fire, loot a business, beat you down, shoot you in the throat.”

Rocker pushed back on calls for vague “change” without clear solutions, saying prosecutions are necessary.

“What needs to be done? The adults in the room — and there still are some — but they need to start taking control,” he continued. “Those that took part in any violence, they need to be prosecuted. Period. [Joe] Biden let them all get away with everything.”

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