SAN DIEGO - The San Diego Gay Men's Chorus has asked that the San Diego Padres reinstate a DJ who was fired after a national anthem mishap prior to Saturday's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
A control room mistake during Saturday's pregame ceremony prevented the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus from performing the national anthem as scheduled. A recording of a woman singing the national anthem was played instead. The approximately 100 members of the chorus stood out on the on field during the song before being escorted off.
A team investigation found "no evidence of malicious intent." However, it fired the DJ responsible, known as DJ ArtForm.
On Monday, Artform issued an apology on his Facebook page, stating, in part: "It was a very unfortunate mistake but it was just that, an error."
In response Tuesday, the Gay Men's Chorus issued the following statement on its own Facebook page requesting that DJ ArtForm be reinstated by the Padres:
"As a community outreach organization dedicated to bringing positive change to the world through music, we applaud the San Diego Padres organization and its chief executive Mike Dee for its ongoing efforts to make something good come out of unfortunate recent events. We have met with Mr. Dee and he has agreed to meet with and work closely with the LGBT community to bring our communities together with constructive, positive change.
"We also would like to publicly accept the sincere apology of DJ ARTFORM and recognize his support for the LGBT community and equality for all people. We do not wish to see him lose his job with the San Diego Padres and kindly ask the Padres to reinstate him. Everyone deserves a second chance.
"We have been overwhelmed by the positive support from people around the world and would like to thank Mayor Kevin Faulconer, City Councilman Todd Gloria and many other community leaders for helpings us turn this into something positive for the City of San Diego."
DJ ArtForm, whose real name is Art Romero, told 10News on Tuesday that the incident was "one of the worst days of my life and I made a big mistake. I embarrassed the LGBT and the Gay Men's Chorus and the entire community of San Diego."
The chorus accepted his apology and is now, along with KOGO radio talk show host Carl DeMaio, trying to get Romero his job back.
The Padres say there will be no decision nor comment until after Major League Baseball's investigation is complete.
