The Washington Nationals have fired a community relations executive three days after a conservative group posted a hidden camera conversation in which the employee discussed internal deliberations about everything from an alleged social media ban on a Catholic pitcher to relationships with defense contractors and the organization’s efforts to placate President Trump, sources told The Athletic on Friday.
Former Nationals director of community relations Sean Hudson is seen in the video talking in a public setting with an undercover “citizen journalist” from the O’Keefe Media Group, founded by James O'Keefe, known for deceptive techniques and selective editing when producing content for Project Veritas, which he also founded but is no longer affiliated with. The Hudson video had been viewed four million times on X between Tuesday and Friday.
In the video, Hudson appears to say that the Nationals have invited U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to games, hoping that his meetings with defense contractors at Nationals Park would lead to them becoming corporate partners, per the reporting of Spencer Nusbaum and Brittany Ghiroli for The Athletic.
“We are trying to use baseball to make money,” Hudson said. “And a lot of that is defense contracts, the Palantirs of the world. We are essentially like, ‘Look at all the Americana hoorah stuff you can do at Nats Park. Give us $2 million.’ ”
“If we piss off Trump too much, he could slash the sports and entertainment budget for D.C.,” he continued. “And then maybe there’s a critical safety enhancement that we want to make to the ballpark — using facial recognition to detect people who are on the no-fly list — maybe those are people we want to avoid coming to the ballpark, and we won’t have the money to do it, and something bad happens.”
Per Nusbaum and Ghiroli, Nationals president of business operations Jason Sinnarajah denied several specific points made by Hudson in the video, including that the organization is anti-Catholic, that it tracks people’s search history and that it hides players from social media.
Sinnarajah also apologized to Nationals pitcher Trevor Williams. In the video, Hudson had said the team avoided using Williams in certain team social media content after the pitcher — a devout Catholic — condemned the Los Angeles Dodgers for hosting the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence at their stadium in 2023. Some Catholic groups have criticized the organization for satirizing and mocking the religion with provocative costumes, Nusbaum and Ghiroli reported.
“We feel awful that he has been dragged into this situation, and hope this hasn’t been a distraction as he gets ready to get back on the field, which we’re excited to have him back on,” Sinnarajah said. “Trevor’s a valued member of the organization, we’ve been proud to support him both on and off the field, including recognizing him last year as our Roberto Clemente award honoree.”
Last week, a spokesperson for the Nationals said the team had issued no such directive regarding Williams, noting that the pitcher is currently injured and has been featured in posts over the past couple of seasons. Hudson is also not on the Nationals’ social team.
Meanwhile, Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado urged the Department of Justice to investigate alleged religious discrimination against Nationals players.
