Little League President and coach John Kelly of Westside youth baseball in Oak Lawn, Illinois was benched and suspended recently for bashing Whitney Houston. Kelly’s racist rant on Facebook was in regard to the incessant media coverage of Whitney Houston’s death that was appearing on his personal Facebook page.
Kelly’s Facebook post read, in part, “I’m sick of reading about this dumb stupid N – – – – – Whitney Houston.” A Westside baseball mom (who refuses to be identified publicly) happened to see it on Kelly’s Facebook page and decided to repost it on the Westside baseball league’s Facebook page and her own. She shared the President’s comment because of her worry about how he would react to African-American players in the league.
@champa10
Lady With A VoiceJohn Kelly, of Oak Lawn, Ill., was suspended from his leadership role with Westside Baseball of Oak Lawn for using N word regarding Whitney
7 days ago via The Huffington Post · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto
The suspended President and coach of the league announced he was enrolling in sensitivity classes to try to rehabilitate himself and his image. “I don’t need this drama in my life. It’s going to affect me hugely, and my business,” Kelly explained to the Chicago Sun-Times. “I do stand behind everything I said except the ‘n’-word. I regret using that adjective. Does that make me a racist? Are you kidding me? It was the farthest thing from my mind. I have some amazing friends who are black.”
@SimpleeKayla
KaylaRT @BlkSportsOnline: John Kelly said he didn’t recall calling Whitney a N*gger & he has “Amazing Black Friends” http://t.co/ot5bDOLo 4 days ago via Twitter for Android · Reply · Retweet · Favorite · powered by @socialditto
According to their website, “Westside baseball will be moving forward with Jim Hebel as their new President.” Also according to a post on the site, “Effective immediately, our former President, who was relieved of his duties on Monday, February 20th, 2012, resigned from the Westside Board.” Further down their website also reads: “Please keep in mind that this is a public website. Therefore, any abusive, offensive or otherwise inappropriate comments will be removed from the site.”