Little League World Series officials said there was more to the story about why teammates were sticking a cottonlike material on the player’s head.
Little League World Series officials have said there was no “ill-intent” after a video of players sticking a cottonlike material on a Black teammate’s head drew backlash online.
In the video, the player, who wears a Midwest Region uniform, is sitting in a chair as teammates pull the stuffing out of toys and stick it on the youth’s head.
The team, from Davenport, Iowa, appeared to be watching Sunday’s Little League Classic game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox when the incident, which aired on ESPN, unfolded.
“That’s just Little Leaguers being Little Leaguers right there,” a commentator says as the camera homes in on the scene.
A spokesperson for the Little League World Series said in a statement that while officials understood how the incident “could be perceived as racially insensitive,” the organization was assured after having spoken with the child’s mother and coaches that “there was no ill-intent behind the action shown during the broadcast.”
The Davenport Southeast Little League later offered further details. The Iowa group said its players were given a stuffed animal and were pulling the stuffing out “in an attempt to emulate the white mohawk of the Hawaii team’s star player, who they think is a great baseball player with a very cool hairstyle.”
