Yankees’ Nestor Cortes off Twitter after ‘unacceptable’ tweets with racial slur surface
New York Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes apologized on Monday after several old tweets in which he used a racial slur and other offensive language resurfaced.
Cortes said that he deactivated his Twitter account on Sunday night, and that he was “pissed” at himself and was “shocked” when they were suddenly retweeted while he was pitching during a 5-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.
“Those aren’t the messages I want to send out,” Cortes said Monday, via the New York Post. “I deleted my Twitter to clean stuff up. Hopefully I can make a better impact in the world for the people that look up to me to give a better example.”
More than a dozen retweets captured by the New York Post showed Cortes using the N-word multiple times back in 2012 and 2013, when he would have been 17 or 18 years old.
He didn’t appear to be using it in a derogatory way at anyone, and said he forgot they were there.
“I’m not gonna say I don’t [remember tweeting it], but I didn’t realize they were still there,” he said, via the New York Post. “It’s unacceptable. I could have managed myself better and said stuff differently.”
Cortes, 27, holds a 1.35 ERA after seven starts so far this season, his second back with the Yankees after they initially drafted him in 2013. He threw eight scoreless innings, a career-high, and allowed three hits while striking out seven without a walk in Sunday’s win against the White Sox.
“I like to attract all the kids and maybe people who look at themselves like me, not the prototype, not the 6-foot-5, the 97 mph,” he said, via NJ.com. “Hopefully I can start sending better messages.
“I was mad at myself to still see that on my Twitter. I think the last two years I’ve been pretty positive on Twitter, sending good messages. When I saw that, I was a little pissed off at myself for that stuff.”