Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench apologized on Sunday for an anti-Semitic joke he made at a tag team event the day before.
The Reds were holding a press conference for the team’s Hall of Fame inductions for former general manager Gabe Paul and pitchers Danny Graves and Bronson Arroyo. Pete Rose began recounting how Paul, who died in 1998 and was represented by his daughter Jennie Paul, signed him for $400 a month out of high school, prompting someone to shout “it’s cheap!”
Bench then launched “He was Jewish!” Several people laughed loudly at the joke, though a few others, including Rose, just looked stunned.
You can see the exchange here:
A day later, after the leaked video of the joke, Bench apologized and called his joke “insensitive”:
“I recognize that my comment was insensitive. I apologized to Jennie for taking her father away from the attention he deserved. Gabe Paul has earned his place in the Reds Hall of Fame, like others who stood on that stage, I’m sorry that some of the focus is on my inappropriate remark instead of just focusing on Gabe’s achievement.”
Bench did not casually bring up Paul’s Judaism, as Jennie Paul noted that her father was Jewish earlier in the press conference, according to WCPO.
When reached by the Cincinnati Enquirer, Jennie said she didn’t hear the joke and that Bench asked her if she was offended after the conference:
“I didn’t even hear him say that,” Jennie Paul said. “Johnny came over and said ‘Are you offended?’ and I said for what? I didn’t even hear him say that. I guess if I had heard him say that, I would have said something, but I didn’t even hear him say that.
While her father was Jewish, Jennie told the Enquirer that she was not and that her mother raised her as an Episcopal. She also said her father’s Judaism kept him from becoming MLB commissioner.
Bench did not ride Paul while on the Reds, as he was drafted by the team in 1965, five years after Paul resigned in 1960. Paul became general manager of Houston Colt .45, Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees, while Bench is a 14-time All-Star and Hall of Famer.