Matt Dermody, a 33-year-old pitcher who signed with the Boston Red Sox organization this year and made one spot start, appeared on Tomi Lahren‘s “Tomi Lahren is Fearless” podcast Friday to discuss the fallout over his now-deleted June 2021 tweet.
In the tweet, Dermody wrote, “Homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God” and “will go to hell,” citing 1 Corinthians 6:9.
“May we all examine our hearts, ask Jesus to forgive us and repent of all our sins. I love you all in Christ Jesus!” Dermody tweeted.
Although the tweet was posted two years earlier, it didn’t draw media attention and social scrutiny until Dermody was called up to make a spot start in June against the Cleveland Guardians after pitching in nine games for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate.
Lahren claims that the “tweet got pulled out by the woke mob,” which drove the Red Sox to separate themselves from Dermody’s beliefs. After giving up three runs across four innings of work on June 8, Dermody was cut from the team the next day. After clearing waivers, he was assigned to the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate in Worcester on June 11. Five days later, the Red Sox released Dermody from his contract, meaning he is now a free agent.
Dermody told Lahren that the Red Sox general manager knew of the tweet in spring training, before the regular season even started, and the two had a conversation about it.
Dermody defended the tweet as “far from homophobic,” stressing, “I don’t hate anybody in this world.”
He said the 2021 tweet came not long after he first embraced the Christian faith.