Torii Hunter Calls Reporter A "Prick" At Press Conference

[Parker Hageman]

You have all probably heard about it by now. Some may have watched it live. For those who have not, Deadspin.com has posted video of the line of questioning and response that drew the word "prick" out of Torii Hunter's mouth in the direction of Pioneer Press reporter Mike Berardino. 

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

 

"Hey Mike is kind of a prick huh," Hunter said during a lull in the presser. "No, seriously, you're a prick man. I don't even know you. You're a prick. Seriously. Ain't nothing wrong with that man, that's your job. He's definitely a prick though."

 

The reaction was incited by inquiries regarding Hunter's political affiliation, his views on same-sex marriage and homosexuality but was also likely elevated from an earlier question at the beginning of the press conference regarding Hunter's defensive capabilities.

 

https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/540252208567046144

 

While the reaction on social media seems to favor Berardino's decision to ask the questions, the detractors on Twitter involves whether this venue was the appropriate time to ask the questions. Regardless of the circumstances, a reporter's job is the ask the pertinent and often difficult questions. For multiple reasons, it was a difficult question but Berardino had a right to ask. 

 

Berardino also responded to KARE 11 on the interaction as well. 

[glunn]

This could be a long year for us moderators.

[jokin]

Deadspin is demontstrably not a "credible media outlet", as Mike Berardino alleged.  Parent company is Gawker, an online blogging company that features "Gawker Stalker Maps" (a blatantly irresponsible encouragement for the Rupert Pupkin's of the world to commit mayhem on celebrities as well as on Gawker's political targets currently in the news) and a blog called "Defamer", as well as Deadspin.  The chairman of the parent company called his company's primary focus as "'traffic-whoring' and 'SEO bomb-throws.'"  Another goal is to harass, whip up controversy and shout down anyone that disagrees with their own extreme political views. One of their "accomplishments" was to hound the creator of Javascript, and CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, out of his position at Mozilla, for merely making a small donation to the sponsors of a state referendum in California that they opposed.

 

Deadspin's recent "accomplishments" in sports journalism include "buying" a Baseball HOF vote from Dan LeBatard, and in October, completely beclowning themselves by breathlessly claiming that the Senator-Elect from Colorado had lied about playing varsity football in high school.  Their supposed source was an elderly man, who thoroughly denied the story once it was published.  Of course, the clowns at Deadspin hadn't thought to crack open a yearbook and avoid being so thoroughly embarrassed.  They never even wrote a formal retraction and apology immediately after they were found out- but (somewhat, ironically given their name) tried to "spin" the story their way for days afterwards.

 

This demonstrates that Berardino used poor judgement in both his choice of his stated source he deemed "credible", and in his timing for asking the non-baseball questions, laced with innuendo. How is supporting someone for Governor related to which teams might, or might not sign Torii Hunter? The current Arkansas governor is not some crackpot, the guy was a US Attorney who successfully prosecuted and crushed a white supremacist organization and later became the Head of the DEA  Not your finest moment, Mike Berardino, you came off as the crackpot, although Joe McCarthy might approve.

[Rigby]

Perhaps the best post I have read on this site.

[Linus]

Kind of ironic that one of the main points of discussion on the other threads is the benefits of Torii's character to the Twins

[USAFChief]

Both Berardino and Hunter were out of line.

 

There is no reason to pursue that line of questioning.

 

And Hunter needs to be smarter than that.

[old nurse]

Hunter has political viewpoints. All people do. No doubt Hunter was called what he called Berndadino for his viewpoints.

Deadspin merely reported the event. No credibility issues there. One should be carefull about labeling media sources as credible. Pundifact checked the media outlets and found basicaly none of them are straight shooters.

[Thrylos]

There was absolutely every reason to pursue that line of questioning and any line of questioning.  And kudos to Mike Berardino for actually being the first media member who ever asked a "controversial" question to a Twins' team member, since Nick Coleman wrote about the Griffith incident in 1978.   And bigotry is bigotry.  Hunter is no different than Griffith.   Perfect question for someone who supposedly was signed to lead by example.

 

Mike did his job.  Athletes and team members in the Twin Cities are just not used to it...

 

And what Hunter did, should get a fine by the Twins' Front Office...

[Celebrity Weddings!]

Hunter's musings on gay teammates were also shared pretty candidly in the LA Times. It seems like a perfectly legitimate line of inquiry for a player that seems to have been acquired, in large part, for his clubhouse presence. We've wanted Twins' reporters to challenge the team-driven narrative. This is what that looks like.

[D. Hocking]

Since so much has been said about Torii being brought on for a locker room presence and his personality and character, and Torii made the initial statements public in the first place, those were valid questions.  I don't necessarily think this was the time to ask them, and ideally wished Berdadino would have picked another time and place.  Still it was an interesting contrast to all the other media who are acting like fanboys that there favorite player is coming back.

 

I have been fairly negative in my Torii posts, but while I would have preferred they spent the 10 million a different way, I actually think it could work out as a positive.  If there is some momentum with the team and in the locker room, I think Torii could help build that as well as be an example of hard work (and I think he might still have something to offer offensively).  However, if things are not going well, Torii's mouth and attitude is not always positive and he is capable of creating some negative vibes.  Will be interesting to see if Beradino, as a relative newcomer, has a different perspective from the long time local reporters who are putting up there old Torii Hunter posters back up on their walls.   

[big dog]

There was absolutely every reason to pursue that line of questioning and any line of questioning.  And kudos to Mike Berardino for actually being the first media member who ever asked a "controversial" question to a Twins' team member, since Nick Coleman wrote about the Griffith incident in 1978.   And bigotry is bigotry.  Hunter is no different than Griffith.   Perfect question for someone who supposedly was signed to lead by example.

 

Mike did his job.  Athletes and team members in the Twin Cities are just not used to it...

 

And what Hunter did, should get a fine by the Twins' Front Office...

I think it would be more appropriate for Berardino to question him the next time he says something like that, rather than rehash old statements during a news conference about a contract.  It's old news.  And it would be even more appropriate for Hunter to make sure there isn't a next time.

 

I do think it would be a good thing for reporters to be a little more aggressive in the Cities.  Some back and forth discussion with players would be a nice change from the Souhan/Powers/Reusse snark.  The players might even welcome it.  Well, Perkins probably would anyway.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Deadspin is demontstrably not a "credible media outlet", as Mike Berardino alleged.

Berardino's article simply called Deadspin a "national media outlet":

http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_27062911/torii-hunter-gay-marriage-views-not-factor-free

 

Makes sense that he would cite a national media outlet, since at the time of this recent ad, Hunter lacked any team affiliation, for all intents and purposes.

[DaveW]

I worked at gawker for several years and know a lot of the guys, I can assure you gawker and deadspin are both "credible" yes, occasionally media outlets make mistakes, but their wins greatly outweighs their losses. They were founded by a fantastic journalist and their current and former lineup features several great writers. Don't agree with their style? That's fine, but to claim they aren't credible is not right.

 

As for Hunter: I don't agree with his views/political choices but I think he did the right thing for not continuing to talk about it until after his playing days are over, honestly nobody wants to hear it at this point, and while it is sad he has those views hopefully someday he can see the light and come around.

 

If he doesn't call Mike a prick so many times (which is inappropriate as it can get) then I think this is basically a non story. So Hunter once again brought this on himself. Anytime a player lashes out at a media member however it will likely be a story.

 

Hopefully hunter can learn to keep his composure better and ideally we don't have to hear about his thoughts on gay marriage etc this year. I always liked on the field Hunter more then the sometimes blowhard off the field Hunter.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Deadspin is demontstrably not a "credible media outlet", as Mike Berardino alleged.  Parent company is Gawker, an online blogging company that features "Gawker Stalker Maps" (a blatantly irresponsible encouragement for the Rupert Pupkin's of the world to commit mayhem on celebrities as well as on Gawker's political targets currently in the news) and a blog called "Defamer", as well as Deadspin.  The chairman of the parent company called his company's primary focus as "'traffic-whoring' and 'SEO bomb-throws.'"  Another goal is to harass, whip up controversy and shout down anyone that disagrees with their own extreme political views. One of their "accomplishments" was to hound the creator of Javascript, and CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, out of his position at Mozilla, for merely making a small donation to the sponsors of a state referendum in California that they opposed.

 

Deadspin's recent "accomplishments" in sports journalism include "buying" a Baseball HOF vote from Dan LeBatard, and in October, completely beclowning themselves by breathlessly claiming that the Senator-Elect from Colorado had lied about playing varsity football in high school.  Their supposed source was an elderly man, who thoroughly denied the story once it was published.  Of course, the clowns at Deadspin hadn't thought to crack open a yearbook and avoid being so thoroughly embarrassed.  They never even wrote a formal retraction and apology when they were found out.

 

This demonstrates that Berardino used poor judgement in both his choice of his stated source he deemed "credible", and in his timing for asking the non-baseball questions, laced with innuendo. How is supporting someone for Governor related to which teams might, or might not sign Torii Hunter? The current Arkansas governor is not some crackpot, the guy was a US Attorney who successfully prosecuted and crushed a white supremacist organization and later became the Head of the DEA  Not your finest moment, Mike Berardino, you came off as the crackpot, although Joe McCarthy might approve.

While Deadspin absolutely loves to stir the pot on occasion, there are zero credibility issues here. Hunter said those things. That's not up for debate nor is it smearing Hunter in any way. That wasn't the first time Hunter made a comment about gay men in the clubhouse.

 

And what the other arms of Gawker Media do has very little bearing on Deadspin. The journalists for one entity have little/no influence on the journalists for another.

[Squirrel]

Both Berardino and Hunter were out of line.

 

There is no reason to pursue that line of questioning.

 

And Hunter needs to be smarter than that.

This.  There was no reason for that at this particular presser.  While I disagree whole-heartedly with Hunter's beliefs, these aren't recent nor are they news.  Well, yes, news ... old news.  There was no reason whatsoever to revisit this at this particular moment.  Do Hunter and Berardino have any kind of history?  And Torii, ugh.  You'd think by now he'd know how to handle this in a professional manner, which he did not.  One of the reasons I wasn't too happy about this signing.  Torii calling someone a prick ... he needs to look in a mirror, imo.

[benji21]

Not your finest moment, Mike Berardino, you came off as the crackpot, although Joe McCarthy might approve.

 

I don't think he comes off as a crackpot at all.  His questions are completely topical as his free agency has been linked from the beginning to his comments on gays, his political beliefs, and his outspokenness.  He was asking if he got turned away by teams for his beliefs.  I agree with others here that say it's refreshing to see a Twin get grilled and for a MN reporter to ask an uncomfortable question.  Torii has been in countless interviews, if he didn't want to come off like a thin-skinned prick himself, it would have been easy to sidestep.  Great to have you on board Torii.

[jokin]

Hunter has political viewpoints. All people do. No doubt Hunter was called what he called Berndadino for his viewpoints.

Deadspin merely reported the event. No credibility issues there. One should be carefull about labeling media sources as credible. Pundifact checked the media outlets and found basicaly none of them are straight shooters.

Yeah, Deadspin has the exact same journalistic standards as the Washington Post and the NY Times./sarc

[nicksaviking]

Ha, this so fits the theme of Minnesota sports right now! What a freaking mess.  Hunter is probably right about Berardino, who was probably still a little stung from the fact that he'd been reporting Hunter was planning to sign with a contender.  But what the hell was Hunter thinking?!  Good lord, embarassing.

 

But Deadspin is hardly legitimate.  They get scoops and some are actaually newsworthy, but it's all sensationalized, there is no objectionality about them.  Did no one notice their headline:

 

Anti-Gay Bigot Torii Hunter Calls Reporter "Prick" Four Times

 

Um, yeah, that's quality journalism right there.

[TheLeviathan]

Yeah, I'm not sure how this turned into bashing Deadspin.  They are absolutely both a credible news agency and the point Bernadino was bringing up was fair game.  However, I think you can call into question the timing of it.  If you want to drill Hunter on that it may be better to do it later.  Regardless, Hunter's actions were absolutely unacceptable.  He was on the job one day and we got to see what kind of "professionalism" he'll model for our young guys.  Can those of you that were suggesting that nonsense see now why that was such a silly line of justification?

 

But to play devil's advocate just a bit (even against my own position) - we too rarely see athletes get pushback for being ignorant, arrogant jerks.  Mike was calling him out on being an ignorant, arrogant, homophobic jerk and you could make a case that it's relevant to balance all this "Yay...it's Spiderman!  He's back!  He's so awesome!" narrative with a little cold dose of reality about the public positions this man has taken.  In that sense, I kind of like that he asked the question.

[jokin]

I worked at gawker for several years and know a lot of the guys, I can assure you gawker and deadspin are both "credible" yes, occasionally media outlets make mistakes, but their wins greatly outweighs their losses. They were founded by a fantastic journalist and their current and former lineup features several great writers. Don't agree with their style? That's fine, but to claim they aren't credible is not right.

 

As for Hunter: I don't agree with his views/political choices but I think he did the right thing for not continuing to talk about it until after his playing days are over, honestly nobody wants to hear it at this point, and while it is sad he has those views hopefully someday he can see the light and come around.

 

If he doesn't call Mike a prick so many times (which is inappropriate as it can get) then I think this is basically a non story. So Hunter once again brought this on himself. Anytime a player lashes out at a media member however it will likely be a story.

 

Hopefully hunter can learn to keep his composure better and ideally we don't have to hear about his thoughts on gay marriage etc this year. I always liked on the field Hunter more then the sometimes blowhard off the field Hunter.

 

I could fill up a dozen pages of crap that Gawker has published that was either not credible, or ideologically driven for the primary purpose to harm someone's reputation, simply because they didn't follow Deadspin's political orthodoxy.  And yeah, if I wanted to live in a country where denouncing public figures for their Constitutionally-protected points of view (in the US, anyway) was the norm rather than the exception, the People's Republic of China or North Korea would be the place to be.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Is this use of the word "prick" acceptable in public?  Just curious.  (I feel bad just typing it.)

 

I think the link between Hunter's politics and his market/contract is probably nonexistent, so it was a poor basis for the question.  But to his credit, Berardino did not ask any kind of follow-up after Hunter obviously did not like the original question, and he didn't even officially report on Hunter's "prick" comments.

 

Hunter actually addressed the question acceptably too.  It was only after the topic was apparently dropped that these comments came.  I'd say Hunter had the unprofessional lapse here.

 

I wonder what would have happened if Hunter signed with the Twins in 2012?  He would have just missed the constitutional ban on the Minnesota ballot in November 2012, but the LA Times article quoting his opinions on homosexuality was published in late December 2012, and he would have been around and playing every day while the Minnesota legislature approved gay marriage the following summer.

 

Even though Hunter would have been far more useful to the Twins in 2013-2014 than now, it's probably for the better he didn't play here then!

[nicksaviking]

Ideologically I'm on (the presumed) side of Berardino.  It doesn't change the fact that by tossing that grenade at what was assumed to be a run-of-the-mill cushy introduction press conference, he was looking to grab the headlines himself. 

 

I haven't been able to read all the reactions, but is anyone rally defending Hunter?  I would assume those that are ripping Berardino simply assume everyone already agrees Hunter was a complete moron for calling him a prick while cameras were rolling. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

I could fill up a dozen pages of crap that Gawker has published that was either not credible, or ideologically driven for the primary purpose to harm someone's reputation, simply because they didn't follow Deadspin's political orthodoxy.  And yeah, if I wanted to live in a country where denouncing public figures for their Constitutionally-protected points of view (in the US, anyway) was the norm rather than the exception, the People's Republic of China or North Korea would be the place to be.

So Deadspin shouldn't call out people like Hunter when they disagree with them? I'm not sure what you're getting at here. Deadspin journalists have the Constitutional right to call Hunter a jerk, the same way Hunter has the right to openly state that he doesn't want gay men in the clubhouse.

 

I'm pretty sure the term "Constitutionally protected points of view" shouldn't be used in the same sentence as despotic Communist regimes in China and North Korea because, you know, despotic regimes without Constitutional rights and all that jazz.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Ideologically I'm on (the presumed) side of Berardino.  It doesn't change the fact that by tossing that grenade at what was assumed to be a run-of-the-mill cushy introduction press conference, he was looking to grab the headlines himself. 

I think the question was ill-timed but I'm not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater. It's nice to see someone in Minnesota sports journalism doing their damned job for once.

[Squirrel]

Moderator note:  If you want to trash/bash Deadspin and Gawker and the like, you are fine to do so in your own thread in the Sports Bar forum.  This is about Berardino's line of questioning and Hunter's response and what we think of that.  Period.  Deadspin did not make this up.  Let's keep it to the main topic and not go down a peripheral route.  Thanks.

[Otto von Ballpark]

As for Hunter: I don't agree with his views/political choices but I think he did the right thing for not continuing to talk about it until after his playing days are over

Does referencing the issue in a political ad (with your own voice, no less) a month ago constitute "not continuing to talk about it"?

 

I think he was mostly quiet about it after that Dec. 2012 article, but it was pretty silly to jump back in the ring with it right as he was entering free agency again.  Especially in a race that wasn't particularly close -- Hunter's endorsed Arkansas governor won re-election by a greater margin than Al Franken did in Minnesota, and Franken's race was considered to be very uncompetitive.

[Mike Sixel]

It isn't old news when Hunter appears in political ads just last month.......it isn't old news.

[woolywoolhouse]

For people saying this wasn't the proper forum for Beradino to ask this question: what forum would you prefer? This was a press conference: literally, that means the press is there to ask questions. If not here, then when? During spring training? In the locker-room after a game? This was the absolute best place for this question to be asked. It may not have been a giant elephant in the room, but- seeing as how Hunter is returning to a state that legalized same-sex marriage in the very-near past- it was at least a pint-sized pygmy elephant that someone needed to have the coconuts to ask.

[jokin]

While Deadspin absolutely loves to stir the pot on occasion, there are zero credibility issues here. Hunter said those things. That's not up for debate nor is it smearing Hunter in any way. That wasn't the first time Hunter made a comment about gay men in the clubhouse.

 

And what the other arms of Gawker Media do has very little bearing on Deadspin. The journalists for one entity have little/no influence on the journalists for another.

 

Yeah, that story on the Senator-elect from Colorado supposedly caught lying about playing football in high school was Deadspin's finest hour of credibility.  And the Governor of Arkansas is germane, how so?

 

If what Deadspin does is so credible, why don't the writers at Twins Daily emulate their style of gotcha games all day and freely sprinkle each editorial with multiple vulgarities? 

[Squirrel]

It isn't old news when Hunter appears in political ads just last month.......it isn't old news.

His public statement of his beliefs is old news.  The fact that they came out again?  Okay, that's not old, but what they are is.  And if there wasn't an election, it wouldn't have happened.  Was it smart for him to do so as he was entering free agency?  It's his choice and his right to do so and deal with the consequences.  But bringing this all up at a press conference in the manner it was, I call that sensational journalism.  What was the pertinence of that?  As was said above, very ill-timed.  And Hunter's response?  Unprofessional.