Anthony Bass quickly became one of the most hated players for the Toronto Blue Jays over the last week or so. In the midst of Pride Month, the pitcher shared a video supporting the boycott of Target and Bud Light, two brands that have shown support for the LGBTQIA+ community. After that entire saga happened, people hoped that Bass learned his lesson. As it turns out… that doesn't seem to be the case.

Bass did apologize for the Tweet, and took down the aforementioned tweet. Based on his comments during his latest media appearance, though, it does seem like the Blue Jays pitcher doesn't recognize why his post was hateful. Bass also reiterated that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, per ESPN.

However, Bass later said he didn't believe the post, which described the sale of LGBTQIA+ merchandise as “evil” and “demonic,” should be considered hateful. “I do not,” the Blue Jays pitcher said. “That's why I posted it originally. When I look back at it, I can see how people would view it that way and that's why I was apologetic…. But I stand by my personal beliefs, and everyone is entitled to their personal beliefs, right? Also, I mean no harm towards any groups of people.”

Anthony Bass did say that he's trying to self-reflect and learn from this experience, which earned him a lot of boos from the Blue Jays crowd. The first step to learning, though, is recognizing what he did wrong. Branding an entire group as “evil” and “demonic” is hateful, no matter how you slice it. It's harmful and could potentially lead to dangerous situations for members of the community.

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The only silver lining to this is how quickly the Blue Jays fanbase rallied around the LGBTQIA+ community. As mentioned earlier, Bass got a healthy dose of boos over the last two games. Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins also talked to his pitcher about his actions.

As part of the celebration of Pride Month, the Blue Jays will host a Pride Weekend celebration. Bass will catch the first pitch of the game against the Twins, which will be thrown by Toronto LGBTQIA+ activist leZlie Lee Kam.