Chicago Cubs Fire DJ Who Played Offensive Song After Aroldis Chapman Outing

The Chicago Cubs have apologized after a Wrigley Field DJ played an offensive song after an appearance by relief pitcher Aroldis Chapman, and have fired the DJ in question, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

On Sunday night, as the Cubs were playing the St. Louis Cardinals, Aroldis Chapman completed his appearance on the mound and began making his way across the field. As he was exiting, the Wrigley Field DJ played the 1997 song “Smack My B***h Up,” by the English band The Prodigy.

The song will not be embedded in this post due to violating the Inquisitr‘s language standards, but you can listen to it here. About all you need to know about the song is that the lyric “Smack my b***h up” is repeated over and over.

If you’re wondering why the Cubs are apologizing for playing that song (apart from the bad language and misogynistic lyrics, that is), here’s why: during the off-season (December 27, 2015 to be specific), Aroldis Chapman was accused of a choking his girlfriend and firing his gun during a domestic violence incident at his home in Florida. No charges were filed, and Chapman denied the allegations.

The Cubs have apologized for playing “Smack My B—- Up” after Aroldis Chapman’s outing https://t.co/9WAi91yWXz pic.twitter.com/xL1rJ9W4HE

— SI MLB (@si_mlb) August 15, 2016

Regardless, Chapman — at the time a Cincinnati Red — was found to have violated Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy, and he immediately felt the ramifications on his baseball career. A pending trade to the Dodgers was put on hold, and instead he was traded to the Yankees three weeks later. He would then go on to spend the first few weeks of this season serving a 30-game suspension.

Back in July, when the Cubs were first looking at picking up Chapman from the Yankees, the organization “caught heat,” as Yahoo Sports writer Chris Cwik says, for going after the controversial closer. Another Yahoo Sports writer, Jeff Passan, wrote at the time that the Cubs got a deal in picking up Chapman, inasmuch as the Yankees were glad to be rid of him.

So consider Chapman’s the controversy surrounding Chapman’s off-the-field issues, playing “Smack My B***h Up” could be seen as insensitive if not downright offensive.

Certainly the Cubs’ management sees it that way. In a statement via ESPN, Cubs president of baseball operations Crane Kenney apologized for the song choice, and confirmed that the team has fired the DJ responsible.

“We apologize for the irresponsible music selection during our game last night. The selection of this track showed a lack of judgment and sensitivity to an important issue. We have terminated our relationship with the employee responsible for making the selection and will be implementing stronger controls to review and approve music before public broadcast during our games.”

Cubs fire employee responsible for Aroldis Chapman song gaffe. https://t.co/Y22OniDRPV pic.twitter.com/GxPyf4aJ2J

— theScore (@theScore) August 15, 2016

For Yahoo Sports writer Chris Cwik, the insensitive song choice is merely symptomatic of the larger problem of the Cubs organization going after a player with known off-the-field issues.

“The organization has preached bringing in quality players, and the move seemed to indicate they were abandoning those principles in order to do whatever it takes to win a World Series.”

Similarly, Cwik notes that Chapman has been less-than-forthcoming about his off-the-field issues since being picked up by the Cubs.

“At his first press conference with the media, there was some uncertainty over whether Chapman could recall speaking to the Cubs front office about his off the field behavior prior to the trade.”

Do you believe the Wrigley Field DJ who played an insensitive song following Aroldis Chapman’s appearance deserved to be fired?

[Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images]