Mets firing GM Jared Porter is good for MLB and for women

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Speaking as a queer woman, I think I can say to every man on Earth, whether he be bi, straight, queer or even gay: if we want to see a picture of your penis, we’ll ask.

The Mets’ new general manager Jared Porter learned that lesson the hard way after admitting he sent explicit text messages to a female reporter. The Mets fired Porter Tuesday. In addition to announcing the decision with the official Mets Twitter account, new owner Steve Cohen made this statement:

“In my initial press conference, I spoke about the importance of integrity, and I meant it,” Cohen wrote on Twitter. “There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”

Porter was fired one day after ESPN reported that he sent explicit unsolicited texts and images to a female reporter for months in 2016 while working for the Chicago Cubs in their front office.

ESPN reported that they obtained a copy of the text history showing the anonymous reporter stopped responding to Porter after he sent a photo of pants featuring a bulge in the groin area.

At one point, according to ESPN, she ignored more than 60 messages from Porter before he sent a final lewd photo of a naked, erect penis. After receiving that text, she responded, “This is extremely inappropriate, very offensive, and getting out of line. Could you please stop sending offensive photos or msg.” Porter reportedly apologized in a series of text messages.

Although this problem dates back almost five years, the Mets said they first learned of the accusations against Porter late Monday night. Baseball writer Marc Normandin hit the nail on the head as for the significance of the team taking such swift action, especially in light of the Astros’ firing of Brandon Taubman in 2019,

Misogny is a problem for the Astros, and by extension for all of the MLB, as SB Nation writer Graham MacAree wrote in 2019, because sports has a misogny problem. And misogny goes hand in hand with homophobia and transphobia. If we want to see those problems addressed, and we do, we need MLB and all sports leagues to tackle each of them, not just one. Victims of sexual harassment aren’t just women, either.

Cohen’s action in this instance makes me proud to be a Mets fan. I hope we’ll see that he also wants a clubhouse free of any homophobia and transphobia as well.

As AmazinAvenue reported, Porter was hired on December 13th to take over as GM under Alderson and Cohen. His tenure lasted just 37 days, and notable transactions under him include the trade for Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco, and yesterday’s trade for Joey Lucchesi. The Mets have not yet announced a replacement.

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