Cubs owners denounce racism after backlash over Chelsea bid

By ROB HARRIS
AP Global Soccer Writer

LONDON (AP) — The owners of the Chicago Cubs, who are bidding for Premier League club Chelsea, touted their anti-racism credentials after a backlash in England about offensive comments by the father of the baseball team’s chairman. It has been three years since family patriarch Joe Ricketts apologized after online media outlet Splinter News published emails featuring him making Islamophobic comments, such as “Islam is a cult and not a religion.” Paul Canoville, Chelsea’s first Black player, tweeted “a big fat anti racism NO to the Ricketts bid.” The Ricketts family says it “rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms.”