NY Mets announcers under fire for criticizing Cubs player who attended Charlie Kirk’s funeral

Two New York Mets announcers are coming under fire for giving a Cubs player grief for going to Charlie Kirk’s funeral.

Gary Cohen and Todd Zeile commented on Matt Shaw’s decision to miss a game to attend Kirk’s funeral, calling it “unusual” and “unprecedented” because it wasn’t a “family emergency.”

Watch:

Gary Cohen wasn’t sold on the way the Cubs and Matt Shaw handled his absence to attend Charlie Kirk’s memorial.

“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency,… pic.twitter.com/D5av7DMJyg

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 24, 2025

“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a race for any reason other than a family emergency, really strikes me as weird,” Cohen opined.

“It’s unusual, I think it’s unprecedented at least from my experience as a player, and I think it made it a little more unusual that it was not revealed until after it came to issue because he was thought to be in the dugout and maybe available, and was not, and that’s how it was revealed,” Zeile agreed.

X users were not pleased with the commentary:

“I don’t want to talk about the politics of it but let me talk about the politics of it “

— Forrest Robbins (@FWRobbins45) September 24, 2025

Who cares.

It’s just baseball.

The man wanted to go to his friend’s memorial after he was kill3d.

Real life is bigger than sports.

— Town Square (@XTownSquareX) September 24, 2025

This take is weird. Announce the baseball game, that’s what fans care about. Yeah, the audacity of Shaw to support someone (a friend of his, too) who was shot and murdered in front of his family. The Cubs are pretty much all set too with their playoff positioning who cares

— Isaac (@iTalkStudiosYT) September 24, 2025

Brewers fan here: Who cares, he’s a grown man and can do whatever he wants. More to life than baseball.

— Syse (@alexsyse) September 24, 2025

So it strikes Gary as “weird” that a man would mourn a close friend that was murdered by attending the memorial of his death

But when Gary’s dog died this year and he missed a game, rightfully nobody questioned it and gave him grace.

Learn compassion and be better, @Mets.

— GILES (@gilescollects) September 24, 2025

Gary Cohen never stood for anything in this world greater than himself, which is why he can’t understand.

— Provasic (@CopperTyphoons) September 24, 2025

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

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