Timbers' Jeremy Ebobisse calls President Trump a racist, implores action on gun control
A day after Philadelphia Union forward Alejandro Bedoya scored a goal, then grabbed a field microphone and called on Congress to take action on gun control, another MLS player is speaking up following a weekend of tragedy in America.
Portland Timbers forward Jeremy Ebobisse posted a string of tweets on Monday afternoon lamenting the lack of political action around gun control. In one of the tweets, he said that it would not be enough to “remove the racist sitting in office,” referring to President Donald Trump.
2020 is vital. Its not enough to remove the racist sitting in office - we need down ballot victory. There’s too much on the line for too many people. If the primary must bring out intense scrutiny & debate, let the nominee feel the wrath of an enraged, hungry for change coalition
— Jeremy Ebobisse (@kingjebo) August 5, 2019
Two separate mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, over the weekend killed at least 31 people.
Ebobisse said that the solutions “aren’t monolithic.”
“We need common sense gun control, we need money out of politics through campaign finance reform, and we need to reverse assault on voting rights that’s flourishing in absence of the VRA - we need to truly fight for a democracy,” he tweeted.
He also criticized Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and called for certain Democratic presidential candidates to instead seek Senate seats.
Time to pile pressure on @Hickenlooper, @BetoORourke, @GovernorBullock, who are popular in their states/can maybe flip Senate seat in respective states. There’ll be other chances to support their presidential runs but if it’s about something bigger than them, then choice is clear
— Jeremy Ebobisse (@kingjebo) August 5, 2019
Ebobisse is no stranger to wading into the political spectrum. The 22-year-old is a rising star for the Timbers in his third season, and he told The Guardian in June that it is unrealistic for athletes to stick to sports.
“It’d be cool to see more soccer players speaking out more,” he said. “Twitter’s like a microphone, and hopefully that microphone reaches more and more people, but I want to do something more off the field, off the screen, something that’s gonna have a wider impact.”
Bedoya was not punished by MLS for his on-field remarks on Sunday.
In a statement, the league said:
“The Major League Soccer family joins everyone in grieving for the loss of lives in Texas and Ohio, and we understand that our players and staff have strong and passionate views on this issue.”
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