The Padres team has rehired a DJ fired earlier this week for mixing up the audio when the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus was supposed to perform the National Anthem during a Pride Night game.
The team announced it was bringing back DJ Art Romero "in a role yet to be determined" after Major League Baseball said Thursday that officials found no malicious intentions in the audio error.
In a statement released on Twitter, MLB officials said they completed a dozen interviews and found the mishap was a result of human error, not any malice.
“…The employees involved had no malicious intentions and, in fact, universally relayed contrition for how the incident unfolded and the adverse impression that it created,” the statement read.
The chorus was silenced during a Saturday Pride Night game between the Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Petco Park. The group was set to sing along to a pre-recorded track of the national anthem when a recording of a woman singing played instead.
The moment was captured on cellphone video by a fan attending the game and posted to Facebook, where it went viral.
Local
The Padres publicly apologized, as did the DJ who made the error and was later terminated.
“MLB believes that the Padres’ efforts to remedy the situation, including its invitation to the chorus to return to a future game to perform the National Anthem, are appropriate and has every expectation that the club’s long-standing record of inclusion will be evident in the future,” the statement read.
MLB officials said the error came as the lead entertainment supervisor could not work on Saturday and handed off work to employees not familiar with all the DJ duties.
"The Padres wish to thank Major League Baseball for its work this week, and are pleased that its findings confirm the facts that we discovered during our own internal investigation," Padres CEO Mike Dee said in a statement. "As we have done this week, we will continue to work with San Diego's LGBT community to strengthen and expand the club's relationship with them."
