The New York Mets fired their general manager Jared Porter amid a sexual harassment scandal involving a reporter back in 2016. At the time, he had an executive position with the Chicago Cubs.
“We have terminated Jared Porter this morning. In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior,” New York Mets owner Steve Cohen tweeted in his official account on Tuesday morning.
The official statement was the following, from Sandy Alderson: “The New York Mets have terminated General Manager Jared Porter, effective immediately. Jared’s actions, as reflected by events disclosed last night, failed to meet the Mets’ standards for professionalism and personal conduct.â€
The Mets had to act
ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Mina Kimes broke the news late on Monday night. The details are disturbing, and are all available here.
“New York Mets general manager Jared Porter sent explicit, unsolicited texts and images to a female reporter in 2016, culminating with a picture of an erect, naked penis, according to a copy of the text history obtained by ESPN,” the report said.
“The woman, a foreign correspondent who had moved to the United States to cover Major League Baseball, said at one point she ignored more than 60 messages from Porter before he sent the final lewd photo. The text relationship started casually before Porter, then the Chicago Cubs director of professional scouting, began complimenting her appearance, inviting her to meet him in various cities and asking why she was ignoring him. And the texts show she had stopped responding to Porter after he sent a photo of pants featuring a bulge in the groin area.”
It’s unclear what the New York Mets plans are regarding the general manager position as of now, with Spring Training about a month away.