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Big League Stew

Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:11 am EDT

Yankees yank Ronan Tynan from lineup after anti-Semitic remark

By 'Duk

First the Yankees told Challenger the Eagle to take a hike after almost divebombing Derek Jeter and Jason Giambi during the 2003 World Series.

Now the team is telling another Yankee Stadium postseason tradition that he'd be better off staying at home for tonight's Game 1 of the ALCS.

According to the New York Daily News, the team has canceled the appearance of singer Ronan Tynan after the Irish tenor made an anti-Semitic remark to a Jewish doctor who was looking at an apartment in his building on Manhattan's East Side.

Tynan often sings "God Bless America" at Yankee Stadium in the seventh inning and is also known for singing at events like Ronald Reagan's funeral and Rudy Giuliani's wedding.

But he won't be in The House That Jeter Built for the Yanks' first ALCS game since 2005.

Here's why, via the NYDN:

"The trouble started when Tynan, 49, bumped into a real estate agent showing an apartment in his East Side apartment building to a doctor from NYU Medical Center.

"The agent told Tynan, 'Don't worry, they are not Red Sox fans,' according to apartment-hunter Gabrielle Gold-von Simson.

"'I don't care about that, as long as they are not Jewish,' was Tynan's reply.

Tynan has already gone on the, uh, offensive, offering up plenty of apologies, claiming it was a "misunderstanding" and even rolling out the old "Hey, I have three band members who are Jewish!" line. He called the doctor to offer a "sincere apology" that was accepted and sounded remorseful in this interview he just did with WNBC (see it below). 

Considering that the Yankees were able to eventually invite Challenger back for a preseason game at the new stadium, I'm sure the team will ask Tynan back to perform in the near future (so long as he keeps his sense of humor to himself, of course).  

After all, Tynan's rendition of the song is so good that it makes everyone forget to ask why an Irish guy is singing God Bless America in the first place.

What would October in The Bronx be without it?    

Related: 2009 postseason on the Stew, 2009 ALCS — Angels v. Yankees

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38 Comments

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  1. MOSScomeBACK2vikes
    1. Posted by MOSScomeBACK2vikes Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:30 am EDT

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    As long as they are not jewish...He is in NY. Everyone is jewish there. Clearly this is a joke. It would be like a person in LA saying "as long as they are not Latino."
  2. M R
    2. Posted by M R Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:41 am EDT

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    another classless yankee fan
    why would anyone be suprised?
  3. Y@nkee F@n
    3. Posted by Y@nkee F@n Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:45 am EDT

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    OH NO.. say it is not so! I look forward to hearing him sign. : )
  4. Dolan Must Go!
    4. Posted by Dolan Must Go! Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:48 am EDT

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    @ 2, you're a moron. Lord knows there aren't Red Sox or Mets fans who lack some sort of social polish...
  5. Y@nkee F@n
    5. Posted by Y@nkee F@n Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:51 am EDT

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    M R.. there are classless fans in every stadium. Why you hating on the Yankees, jealous of their success?
  6. deedee4bj
    6. Posted by deedee4bj Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:18 pm EDT

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    I like jewish men because the are all cut and keep clean.
  7. Yale Hollander
    7. Posted by Yale Hollander Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:40 pm EDT

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    It really doesn't matter who the Yankees have singing because the Angels already have them beat in that category. They're bringing in Enrico Palazzo.
  8. LT
    8. Posted by LT Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:48 pm EDT

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    Shrek was going to be singing at the game? Neat.
  9. goldsac
    9. Posted by goldsac Fri Oct 16, 2009 12:55 pm EDT

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    It was clearly just a joke. Stupid people taking offense over words, and not the feelings that accompany them.
  10. Johnny
    10. Posted by Johnny Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:00 pm EDT

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    That is Ridiculous. It was CLEARLY A JOKE. You can't say anything nowadays without offending someone or some group. People are just so sensitive. How did this even get out anyway?
  11. goggle
    11. Posted by goggle Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:31 pm EDT

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    "That is Ridiculous. It was CLEARLY A JOKE. You can't say anything nowadays without offending someone or some group. People are just so sensitive. How did this even get out anyway?"
    What's funny about it? What else is acceptable? As long as they're not blacks? The joke about that statement is that Jews are so awful he'd prefer if they didn't live near him. He most likely does not feel that, but he pointlessly decided to deride Jewish people because they're an easy target.
    And the reason it got out is probably because the guy he said it to quite rightly called him out on it.
  12. goggle
    12. Posted by goggle Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:35 pm EDT

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    "As long as they are not jewish...He is in NY. Everyone is jewish there. Clearly this is a joke. It would be like a person in LA saying "as long as they are not Latino."
    This makes zero sense.
  13. NostraChronus
    13. Posted by NostraChronus Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:56 pm EDT

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    first off, that was not an anti-semitic remark, it was an off-color joke, and it was pretty close to a joke that was used in a Family Guy episode that was aired earlier this week on syndication.
  14. gaborik10m
    14. Posted by gaborik10m Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:13 pm EDT

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    ""As long as they are not jewish...He is in NY. Everyone is jewish there. Clearly this is a joke. It would be like a person in LA saying "as long as they are not Latino."
    This makes zero sense."
    If that makes zero sense to you, i feel bad for you.
  15. goggle
    15. Posted by goggle Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:21 pm EDT

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    Everyone in NY is Jewish (what?), ergo it's funny that the guy joked that he didn't want to be around them.
    Sorry, makes perfect sense. Forgot to turn my brain off the first time.
  16. NostraChronus
    16. Posted by NostraChronus Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:53 pm EDT

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    hm, maybe this is why he didn't want the dude in his building, the doctor was obviously too sensitive.
  17. kevin
    17. Posted by kevin Fri Oct 16, 2009 3:30 pm EDT

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    Cashman got him fired cause hes the only one in the stadium thats not a steroids freak including every yankee player.
  18. bigboo's bro
    18. Posted by bigboo's bro Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:45 pm EDT

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    How about getting an American to sing God Bless America for a change?
  19. Brutal Truth
    19. Posted by Brutal Truth Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:45 pm EDT

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    Ronan's explanation was that he was referring to the last "scary" (presumably disagreeable) women whom had just viewed the apartment prior to showing it to the complainer.
    If that's all there was to it then Ronan's guilty of choosing his words clumsily by using an inappropriate label to describe some unpleasant visitors he had just met. To take that as anti-Semitic instead of clumsy is just stupid and somewhat pedantically bullyish of the doctor.
    Irish folks have had their "holocausts" too, especially during the 19 century losing millions of native Irish to horrible deaths caused by "Great" Britain literally stealing the food of the native Irish's farms or tables so to speak for export, leaving the growers with nothing so they would starve to death. It was no less of a crime than Nazi Germany's and righteous Jewish folks know that if there is one group on this earth that empathizes with the plights of Jewish history ... its Irish folks.
    Ronan has apologized for his clumsy choice of words and the doctor should apologize too for being a trouble maker.

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