Orioles Exec VP JOHN ANGELOS was an "unexpected populist voice and defender of nonviolent demonstrators" in Baltimore "protesting the death of FREDDIE GRAY from injuries sustained in police custody," according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. His 21 tweets were "striking because sports team executives, often leery of alienating fans, rarely engage in unprovoked social or political discourse." Angelos said, "I just had a different view of the significance of what was going on. Sporting events are fun. But they're not what the society is about and nor should they, in my view, become the focus, especially in extraordinary times where you've had people and families facing personal tragedies. ... It was never on my mind to make news." He added that the tweets "weren't calculated." Angelos: "It was spontaneous. ... The media never covered anything I ever tweeted before, so I had no expectation of that. I spoke for myself personally based on the fact that I've lived here my entire life. I thought that was an appropriate moment. I didn't let it go by, and I don't regret it." Angelos said that he "received more than two dozen media requests, choosing to appear on PBS, MSNBC and 'CBS This Morning.'" He said that he was "making 'a community statement' in his tweets rather than a political one but acknowledges that others may characterize it differently." Angelos: "Political speech, like all speech, comes under the banner or masthead of free speech. If there's a taboo on that -- if people believe that only those who are part of the political elite should be making political speech -- then I think there is a risk that we will not have a participatory democracy" (Baltimore SUN, 5/9).
