This team is no slouch.
A minor league baseball club in Minnesota has decided to keep its cheeky name for its pig mascot, despite public outcry that it is a form of fat shaming.
Not everyone found it funny when the St. Paul Saints – known for their scandalous promotions – decided to name their adorable piglet “Ozempig,” after the hugely popular weight-loss drug.
The AAA team even created a whole story on their social media pages about how the pig had become self-conscious about his recent weight gain and was looking to lose weight.
Backlash was almost immediate after the Saints announced the pig’s name before Saturday’s opener, as angry critics called the nickname painful and insensitive.
Team officials were shocked when some people found the name offensive.
“In today’s world, people don’t want to be diminished, they don’t want to be made to feel a certain way and I’m not going to tell them how they feel, that’s wrong ” Saints clubman Sean Aronson said. vice president and director of media relations.
“But I can tell you there was no malicious intent, there was no malice, there wasn’t even any discussion in the room when we discussed the name, hey, that might offend some people,” he added.
“Ozempig” was chosen from a list of nearly 2,300 entries the team received as part of the Saints’ “Name the Pig Contest.” Aronson said the team was just looking for a fun name.
Despite the outrage, Aronson said there are no plans to change the name.
“We knew how we originally came up with the name and we accept it, but we discussed it and decided to keep it,” he said.
Ozempic is the most popular among several expensive new medications that people are taking to help lose weight. The drug, originally intended to treat type 2 diabetes, costs up to $1,300 per month.
Weight loss drugs have rapidly gained traction over the past year among beauty enthusiasts and celebrities.
The Saints Pig is a fan favorite at minor league games at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul, about 10 miles from its Major League affiliate, the Minnesota Twins, in Minneapolis.
The piglet brings baseballs to the umpire and, over the course of the summer, grows noticeably bigger – and fatter – to the point that another young pig takes over halfway through the season.
With post wires
New York Post
