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American flag shown during Mets Pride Night national anthem. Pride flag did not replace it.
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The video was filmed during the Mets’ Pride Night game against the Tampa Bay Rays June 13.
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The national anthem portion of the event opened with a video showing the American flag.
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A Pride flag appeared on the jumbotron briefly mid-song.
Fans are threatening MLB boycotts over broad stripes and bright stars — or what they complained was a lack thereof — during a recent New York Mets game.
In a game-night video shared across social media, a Pride flag appears on the jumbotron before the image cuts back to Tony Award-winner Alex Newell as they sing the national anthem.
"The Mets showed a pride flag instead of the American flag during our National Anthem," one user posted on X along with a five-second clip. "Boycott the MLB."
The video was taken June 13 during the team’s Pride Night celebration game against the Tampa Bay Rays. But there’s a lot of context missing from that clip.
A longer video of the anthem on Instagram shows that the American flag was displayed on the jumbotron through most of the anthem before a Pride flag made its appearance on the jumboton. Even when the Pride flag appeared, Old Glory remained on the smaller display screens that wrap around the inside of the stadium. A banner announcing Newell’s name also included an American flag icon on the left.
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(Screenshot from X)
June is Pride Month, the annual celebration of LGBTQ+ rights and culture that coincides with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a six-day conflict that followed violent police raids on a New York City gay bar. Many communities mark Pride Month with parades and other awareness-raising activities.
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For the New York Mets, Pride Night means "the one night each year when Citi Field swaps blue and orange for the entire rainbow!" the Mets website announced. There was a pre-game "Pride Party" at the K Korner, a bar next to the stadium, hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race star Jan Sport, along with a Pride-themed fireworks show. A portion of the proceeds from the game’s tickets went towards New York-area initiatives supporting LGBTQ+ communities.
"The Mets did not replace the American flag at all — it was in the same spot it’s in for all 81 home games at CitiField," David Kilmnick told PolitiFact in an email. Kilmnick is president of the LGBT Network, a nonprofit that was at the June 13 game. "I know myself and others who were with me turned to the flag while the anthem was sung," he said.
The New York Mets did not respond to PolitiFact for comment.
We rate the claim that Mets "showed a Pride flag instead of the American flag" during the national anthem claim False.
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American flag shown during Mets Pride Night national anthem. Pride flag did not replace it.
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