Hall of Famer Johnny Bench apologizes for antisemitic remark at Cincinnati Reds event

By AP 17 July 2023, 7:10 pm

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Former Cincinnati Reds player Johnny Bench looks on after being introduced during the Reds Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony before a baseball game between the Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers, July 15, 2023, in Cincinnati, Ohio. (AP Photo/ Darron Cummings)

Hall of Famer Johnny Bench apologizes for an antisemitic comment made at an event to honor, among others, former Cincinnati Reds general manager Gabe Paul, who was Jewish.

Bench made the remark at an event attended by Paul’s daughter, Jennie Paul, on Saturday. Paul, who died in 1998, and former Reds pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo were being inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

Pete Rose recalled signing a deal worth “400 bucks a month” in his first contract negotiation with Gabe Paul.

Jennie Paul joked that it was “cheap.”

“He was Jewish,” Bench responded, drawing laughs from the audience.

“I recognize my comment was insensitive. I apologized to Jennie for taking away from her father the full attention he deserves,” Bench says, in a statement released Sunday. “Gabe Paul earned his place in the Reds Hall of Fame, same as the others who stood on that stage, I am sorry that some of the focus is on my inappropriate remark instead of solely on Gabe’s achievement.”