Brave Cubs DJ plays song to protest domestic violence. Gets fired instantly. Theo Epstein, thoughts?

As a lifelong Cubs fan, I was quite interested in the story. I’ve quickly read some the coverage, and it looks like Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, Tory Brecht of WQAD, Big League Stew of Yahoo Sports, Morgan Wolf of Business Insider and Jesse Rogers of ESPN, and Mike Alixa of CBS Sports are all largely in agreement on the overall narrative. I, as always, recommend you read each article individually and decide for yourself, but my personal summation of their collective take is the following:

1. A Wrigley Field DJ played the song Smack My Bitch Up after after Aroldis Chapman pitched the 9th inning.
2. That was not a good song to play in that moment, as it was “inappropriate”, “irresponsible”.
3. The Cubs feel very sorry about this inappropriate song choice, and have responded by firing the DJ instantly. In the words of Crane Kelley, Cubs President of Baseball Operations, “The selection of this track showed a lack of judgment and sensitivity to an important issue. We have terminated our relationship with the employee responsible.”
4. This is the right move
5. The DJ has not been identified and that is not worth highlighting

I am open minded. Paul, Big League Stew, Morgan, Jesse, and Mike are all entitled to their own opinion / interpretation of the facts. But I, Sarah Press, would like to follow up my first story on The lack of appropriate response to the Daily Beast gay outing scandal with my thoughts on this story as well.

I don’t have all the facts, but here is my current take:

This DJ played Smack My Bitch Up because the DJ was upset that the Cubs signed Aroldis Chapman and almost nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. This DJ decided to take a stand the only way this DJ could, by playing Smack My Bitch Up on the loud speaker in the 9th inning so people could remember that Aroldis Chapman is not just a pitcher, but also a man who was accused of choking his girlfriend. This DJ doesn’t want us to have Aroldis Chapman on the team. This DJ would rather have us win the World Series without Aroldis Chapman or not win the world series at all. And so this DJ played a song to protest domestic violence. And the DJ was instantly fired.

And, in this alternate version of events, the fact that Crane Kenny decided to fire this DJ instantly without revealing the DJ’s identity is actually quite worrisome. It seems to indicate that Crane actually knew the DJ’s goals and is actively trying to silence. And who knows, maybe the DJ is a woman.

Here’s the lyrics of the song by the way, in case you are unfamiliar.

“Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up
Smack my bitch up”

Read more: Prodigy — Smack My Bitch Up Lyrics | MetroLyrics

I don’t know all the facts, but this human’s opinion based on what she knows says there is more to this story.

Moreover, I’d love to hear what Theo Epstein and his family thinks of this DJ story. I love the Cubs, I want the Cubs to look amazing, much like Theo Epstein does. And right now Aroldis and Crane are making the Cubs look the opposite of amazing. That isn’t good.

And I’d love to hear other people’s suggestions for what Cubs fans can do about this. I know it feels like we can’t do anything, but a brave DJ Cubs fan whose name has not been released played a song to help people to remember. A braves Cubs fan named Caitlin Swieca sent a tweet that she would donate $10 to the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic every time Chapman makes a save. And that has inspired others to do the same, enabling this clinic to raise $2000 in 10 days. “I think she and her fellow fans making those donations are counteracting that message that the Cubs sent with this trade,” Executive Director Margaret Duval said in a quote in the article.

The brave DJ + Caitlin Swieca have inspired me to donate to the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic and reach out to Caitlin and Margaret to see what I can do help their efforts. And I bet if we put our heads together we can think of other things we can do to send the message that we want our team to be the best team in the world but sometimes being the best means not signing players that probably beat their wives, even if they are so good at making saves that Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported that Joe Madden had earned himself a great steak dinner from his boss, with no reported limit on ounces three days ago, for a 3-pitch inning.

We must all do better. And every step is a start. So let me know how I can help.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. Thank you for listening and taking the time to read my 2nd Medium post. Sarah out.