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| Ryan Braun |
(Scroll down for video) A popular U.S. Jewish baseball star was suspended for 65 games after he admitted to using a banned substance, according to reports by Major League Baseball officials.
Ryan Braun stood on a field and proclaimed that he never used a banned substance.
"I would bet my life on it," he said. "This substance never entered my body at any time," he also said at the time.
Seventeen months later, he accepted a suspension of 65 games and said: "I'm not perfect. Now, I realize I made some mistakes. I'm willing to accept the consequences of those actions."
Braun was suspended without pay for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
Braun, also known as the Hebrew Hammer, is proud of his Jewish identity. His father was born in Israel and his grandparents escaped the Holocaust. Braun's mother is Catholic, which means that he is not Jewish according to Jewish law, and never had a Bar Mitzvah, but he and the American Jewish community considers him Jewish.
"I'm Jewish," Braun said. "It's something I'm very proud of. But I do not want to turn it into something more than it is. I did not have a Bar Mitzvah. I do not want to pretend that I did. I do not celebrate the holidays. It is a sensitive issue because I do not want to offend anyone, and I do not want groups claiming me now because I'm having success. But I do consider myself definitely Jewish. And I'm very proud to be a role model for young Jewish children,” Braun also said.
However, Twitter users have reacted to the Braun suspension with anti-Semitic tweets.
@ChrisB_Bacon on Twitter said: “I hate Braun. Total Jew move by him.”