A former Charlie Kirk staff is calling out the Mets broadcaster
Charlie Kirk’s former Chief of Staff is not happy about the comments New York Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen made regarding Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw attending Kirk’s memorial service, and understandably so.
During Tuesday night’s broadcast of the Mets’ visit to Wrigley Field, Cohen addressed Shaw’s absence from the Cubs’ contest on Sunday against the Cincinnati Reds, a 1-0 loss, to attend Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona that afternoon.
During his media availability hours before Tuesday’s first pitch, Shaw explained that he and Kirk became friends last offseason when they lived in the same apartment complex in Arizona. He also explained that they shared a bond through their Christian faith, and that Charlie’s wife, Erika, had personally reached out to him, asking him to attend the event on Sunday.
Kirk’s former Chief of Staff, Michael McCoy, added more background about Kirk’s Cubs fandom and his friendship with Shaw by posting a video of his late friend at Wrigley Field from earlier this season. McCoy, who spoke at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday, directly called out Cohen in his post on X.
Shaw missed a day of work to attend the memorial service for his friend, who was assassinated at the request of his widow, yet Cohen could not comprehend that a player would put his faith and a tragic event in his personal life above missing one of his team’s 162 regular-season games.
“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 said on the SNY broadcast on Tuesday.
The Cubs had already clinched a playoff spot before Shaw’s absence in their loss to the Reds on Sunday, and at this point, the team is looking to hold onto home-field advantage for the NL Wild Card series. Shaw consulted with a group of Cubs players and received clearance from manager Craig Counsell as well as the president of baseball operations, Jed Hoyer, to miss Chicago’s game on Sunday to attend the memorial.
Nevertheless, none of that is good enough for Cohen, who happened to miss a broadcast earlier this season after his dog passed away.
OutKick has reached out to both the Mets and SNY for comment about Cohen’s remarks about Shaw but as of publication, have not heard back from either. Wednesday’s game between the Cubs and Mets was broadcast on ESPN, so Thursday’s contest between the two clubs will be the first time Cohen returns to the booth since his remarks about Shaw.
Shaw went 3-for-4 during Chicago’s 10-3 win over the Mets on Wednesday, a game that saw him hit a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
