A Boston Red Sox pitcher released for a backlash to social media content said he won’t apologize for sharing his Christian convictions..Matt Dermody, a 33-year-old pitcher who signed with the Red Sox organization this year, found his social media under scrutiny after being called up for a June 8 major league debut against the Cleveland Guardians. He gave up three runs in four innings..Dermody pitched nine games for the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate. But, the day after his major league start, he was placed on waivers. He was assigned to the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate in Worcester on June 11, then released from his contract June 16..In a 2021 tweet since deleted, 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!" he tweeted..Dermody appeared on the Tomi Lahren is Fearless podcast July 21 to discuss the sequence of events. .Lahren claims that the "tweet got pulled out by the woke mob.” Progressives even cried foul over his posts supporting former President Donald Trump..Dermody told Lahren that Red Sox General Manager Brian O'Halloran knew of the tweet in spring training and they talked about it. He recalled assuring O’Halloran, saying, "I don't want anybody to go to Hell."."I saw the list of all the things that lead people to hell and I was on that list," he said. "That instilled the fear of the Lord in me. And so now, it's not really about me anymore, but it's about helping others and preaching the Gospel and the Good News of Jesus Christ, that He saves us from the fires of hell.".The former Blue Jays and Cubs pitcher said he only came to faith himself in recent years and the controversial tweet followed early on.."The whole pandemic kind of shook my whole world up because I lost my job in baseball, I was kind of searching for the meaning of life after that.”.Dermody said he purchased a Bible to please his then-girlfriend, now his wife. After his "mini-identity crisis," he was "super convicted with the life that I was living. I knew at that moment if I died that night, I was not going to be in Heaven with God.".The Iowa-born pitcher said his tweet was "far from homophobic," and added, "I don't hate anybody in this world." However, he said many Americans have a "big identity crisis" of their own with "males thinking they're girls and girls thinking they're boys.".Dermody is "still pursuing baseball.” Lahren asked him how he would respond if another team offered him a contract in exchange for apologizing for the tweet..He said his response would be, "I'm sorry for hurting people's feelings, but I believe in God; I believe in the word of God and I want people to get to Heaven.".Dermody added, "I'm not going to affirm any kind of sinful or immoral behavior that's going to lead people astray.”.By contrast, O’Halloran was ready to apologize profusely to the Boston Globe for calling up Dermody when they knew of his previous tweet. The team celebrated Pride Night June 13 with the national anthem sung by the New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus.."We regret that this caused people to feel that hurt. I'm sorry about that. We're sorry about that. We celebrated Pride Day the other day and that was an incredible day at the ballpark. The atmosphere was so joyous and celebratory on the field and in the stands,” said O’Halloran.."We're proud of our history celebrating Pride Night and standing next to the LGBTQ+ community. We're sorry that a roster decision that we made caused harm to that community. We regret that it hurt people in the community, it hurt our fans, it hurt people that work in the organization.".When asked if the backlash led to Dermody’s cancellation, the general manager said at least partly.."We wanted to give the opportunity to other players…we factor in everything,” he said.."Certainly we considered everything that became public with regard to his Twitter activity. That was also something that we factored into this decision.”
