Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, one of the Chicago White Sox’ most prominent fans, came to owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s defense on Friday as the team limps through a historically dismal season, saying the criticism of Reinsdorf has amounted to threats and borders on “antisemitism.”
Ahead of the Sox’ matchup with the Detroit Tigers on Friday evening, when the South Siders could set the record for most losses in modern history, Lightfoot said the team’s performance has been “really disappointing.” But she also expressed concerns about the “vitriol” targeting Reinsdorf, who she called a “friend.”
“Frankly, some of the stuff I’ve seen probably crosses the line to criminal. … People can have their own opinion, but when it crosses the line into threats, into character assassinations by people who frankly don’t know him personally, I think that’s out of bounds,” she said.
Lightfoot acknowledged she’s “very sensitive to where that line is,” having faced chilling threats as mayor that resulted in criminal charges.
Two men were charged with stalking Lightfoot by showing up at her home; one of the men had a gun. And a Michigan man was accused of sending a racist shooting threat to a city website that targeted Lightfoot.
“It crossed the line way more times than I could even count into people feeling like they were entitled to call me the most vicious, vile names and make death threats against me and my family,” she said.
Lightfoot held that “sports commentators” and online trolls have similarly “crossed the line” by attacking Reinsdorf, who also owns the Chicago Bulls.
“When people are calling him the cheap owner, I’ve gotta tell you, that’s like one step removed for me from saying the cheap Jew,” she said of Reinsdorf, who is Jewish. “And don’t I like that. I don’t like antisemitism.”
She added: ““As somebody who’s been the subject of those kinds of attacks, it is a slippery slope between that kind of vitriol and people making death threats against the person who’s the target of the vitriol. It’s a very, very thin line.”
While Lighftoot was steadfast in her defense of Reinsdorf, she didn’t pull any punches as she discussed her disappointment in the Sox, who she noted had shown so much promise in recent years. Going into Friday night’s game in Detroit, the Sox had 120 losses this year, tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the most in baseball history.
“It’s hard to go to the ballpark and feel like you can literally count the number of people that are in the stands,” Lightoot said. “That’s painful. And you know for me, I only wish for a return to relevance.”