(Nick Laham/Getty Images)
By Sam Britt
(NEW YORK) The New York Mets have fired general manager Jared Porter after it was revealed he sent explicit, unsolicited text messages to a female reporter in 2016, according to ESPN.
The woman said at one point she had received and ignored more than 60 text messages which included pictures of pants with a bulge in the groin area and an image of an erect phallus. The woman was a foreign correspondent who moved to the United States to cover the MLB.
At the time, Porter was the director of professional scouting for the Chicago Cubs. He texted her relentlessly, sometimes sending dozens of messages without a response.
Porter was reached by ESPN on Monday and acknowledged texting with the woman. He then claimed the explicit images were not of him but were “joke-stock images.”
ESPN became aware of the allegations and obtained three of the messages in 2017. ESPN was prepared to report but the woman worried that the story could harm her career. She has since left the journalism field and chose to speak now under the condition of anonymity due to the fear of backlash in her home country.
"My number one motivation is I want to prevent this from happening to someone else," she said through an interpreter. "Obviously, he's in a much greater position of power. I want to prevent that from happening again. The other thing is, I never really got the notion that he was truly sorry."
Porter was hired by the Mets on Dec. 13. Mets team president Sandy Alderson, who hired Porter, released a statement on Monday.
“The Mets take these matters seriously, expect professional and ethical behavior from all of our employees and certainly do not condone the conduct described. … We will follow up as we review the facts regarding this serious issue.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen announced the firing on Tuesday.
“We have terminated Jared Porter this morning,” Cohen tweeted. “In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior.”