Nationals fire executive caught on hidden camera saying team avoided using conservative player on social media

The Washington Nationals have fired a community relations executive following a controversy involving the executive allegedly discussing "internal deliberations," including an alleged social media ban on a Catholic pitcher, The Athletic reported on Friday.

A video posted to X on Tuesday by James O'Keefe, founder of O’Keefe Media Group, appeared to show Nationals executive Sean Hudson admitting on hidden camera footage that the team avoided using pitcher Trevor Williams in social media content following his past criticism of the Dodgers for hosting the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence at their stadium in 2023.

Among other comments in the video of Hudson, he discussed the Nationals' relationship with defense contractors and detailing how fans who come to Nationals Park and accept cookies on their devices are providing the Nationals with their data.

Here's what to know about the controversy surrounding Hudson's firing from the Nationals.

Why did Nationals fire Sean Hudson?

Hudson, who was the team's director of community relations, was let go by the Nationals on Friday, per The Athletic, which was three days following the release of the hidden camera footage that showed him discussing internal team processes.

The most prominent topic to come from the hidden-camera conversation with Hudson was the former executive talking about pitcher Trevor Williams, who is Catholic. Williams previously criticized the Los Angeles Dodgers for hosting the Sisterhood of Perpetual Indulgence at their stadium in 2023. In the video, Hudson said that because of that, the Nationals avoided using Williams in their own social media content.

"One of our pitchers, Trevor Williams. He is very Catholic. .. The Dodgers had a group out to the stadium who were drag queens who sometimes dressed up as nuns," Hudson said in the video. "He [Trevor Williams] went on social media like, ‘This is wrong, this is my religion, you all are mocking it.' ... Because of that, we [Washington Nationals] don’t use him [Trevor Williams] on social [media]."

Other comments made by Hudson in the video included him referring to players as “nine silly men in costumes." Additionally, he said that the Nationals have previously invited U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to their games in hopes that Hegseth’s meetings with defense contractors would lead to them becoming corporate partners.

“We are trying to use baseball to make money,” Hudson said in the video. “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."

Hudson also spoke about how the Nationals gain access to fans' Google history, saying that fans who come to games and accept cookies on their devices provide the franchise with their data. Per The Athletic, that is considered "standard practice for teams and corporations."

“There is someone on our team who is responsible for figuring out everything about you and assigning you into a bucket of people,” Hudson said in the video. “If you’re accepting cookies, we’re getting a plethora of your Google history.”

Per The Athletic, Hudson had previously worked as the Nationals' director of military affairs, is an Air Force veteran and had been in his role with the team since 2023. He also deleted his X account shortly after the video was posted. Prior to reportedly being let go, Hudson told another O'Keefe representative that he was "on leave" from the Nationals on Wednesday.

Sean Hudson hidden camera video

On Tuesday, O'Keefe, who has 3.5 million followers on X as the CEO of O'Keefe Media Group, shared a post to the platform that included 16 minutes of Hudson on apparent hidden camera video discussing internal Nationals topics.

Hudson was speaking with an undercover “citizen journalist” from the O’Keefe Media Group, per The Athletic.

BREAKING NEWS: Washington @Nationals Director of Community Relations Admits on Hidden Camera to Active Religious Discrimination Against Starting Pitcher Trevor Williams, Surveillance of Nationals Fans’ Google History, and Segregated LGBTQ+ Corporate Meetings to an O’Keefe… pic.twitter.com/AWqlq6wXV9

O'Keefe also posted a follow-up video where Alex Stein appeared to call Hudson personally, confronting him about his previous comments. In that video, Hudson said his previous comments about Williams don't "sound like something I would say.”

Online backlash to Sean Hudson hidden camera video

The X video posted by O'Keefe was up to 4.1 million views on X as of Friday, sparking backlash and calls for Hudson to be fired by the Nationals.

According to Fox News, Republican representative Lauren Boebert also recently called for the Department of Justice to investigate the Nationals for alleged religious discrimination.

Nationals statement on Sean Hudson

In various statements to The Athletic, the Nationals did not comment on Hudson’s employment status. Additionally, the team denied the allegations Hudson made about avoiding using Williams in social media content, saying that "Williams is currently injured and has been featured in posts over the past couple of seasons," per The Athletic.

The Nationals also told The Athletic that they “are aware of comments made by an employee which were recorded without the employee’s knowledge and disseminated without his permission.

“The statements are not only factually incorrect, but do not reflect the views, opinions or actions of the Washington Nationals. The Nationals are dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for our players, fans and staff, and we vehemently deny any allegations to the contrary.”