Blue Jays Boss Condemns Trump After Earning Canadian Citizenship

May 6, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

TORONTO, ON - October 2 Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro answers questions from the media. The Toronto Blue Jays held their final press conferences of the year at the Rogers Centre following the end of their season. October 2 2024 Richard Lautens/Toronto Star (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star via Getty Images)

Toronto Star via Getty Images

The Toronto Blue Jays are off to a rough start in defending their American League title, opening the season with a losing record following an aggressive offseason of additions.

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The Blue Jays are holding out hope for another World Series run this year with the goal of bringing a championship trophy back to Canada. But if they do make it back to the Fall Classic, it now seems as if they won’t be able to expect any congratulatory messages from the U.S. president.

Toronto Blue Jays President Sends Donald Trump Message

As the Blue Jays prepared to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in last year’s World Series, U.S. President Donald Trump voiced some frustration with prominent anti-tariff advertisements run by the Government of Ontario during Blue Jays games. It remained an open question as to whether he would invite the Blue Jays to visit the White House had they won the World Series.

Now, a potential visit might be off the table, as Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has openly criticized Trump.

“I don’t know if I’ve got a moment that I’ve felt that way,” Shapiro told Steve Paikin during a recent interview, when asked how long it took him to start thinking of himself as a Torontonian after being born in Massachusetts. “Maybe getting my citizenship was kind of like, ‘OK, this is like, I’m not a permanent resident anymore, I have two passports now.’ Maybe the U.S. election made it easier after I was here for four years.”

Toronto Blue Jays Boss Mark Shapiro Explains ‘Desire To Distance Myself’ From Donald Trump

Paikin asked Shapiro to elaborate on how a U.S. election strengthened his transition to Toronto and the Blue Jays executive laid bare how he feels his own ideals differ from those championed by Trump.

“I think the desire to distance myself from the current U.S. president, you know, made me more proud of some of the social dynamic and the values — it was some of the reasons that moving here was compelling,” Shapiro added. “The openmindedness, the progressiveness, the compassion and empathy that I felt were, obviously there’s no attribute like that that’s going to be with everyone, but were more pervasive here than what was being espoused by the leader of the free world in the U.S.”

Shapiro began his major-league executive career with the Cleveland Indians before joining the Blue Jays in 2015. He recently agreed to a five-year extension with the team and, along with his dual citizenship, that suggests he plans to remain in Toronto for the foreseeable future.

But even if Shapiro doesn’t last that long in his Blue Jays role, it seems he’d prefer to stay in Canada anyway, at least until Trump’s presidential term is over.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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