Cubs Owners Tout Their Anti-Racism Views To Salvage Chelsea Bid

CHICAGO — After their bid to purchase Premier League soccer club Chelsea was called into question over racist comments made by its family’s patriarch three years ago, the owners of the Chicago Cubs issued a statement Wednesday promoting their anti-racism efforts in Chicago in an attempt to salvage their chances overseas.

The Ricketts family issued the statement after Chelsea’s first Black player, Paul Canoville, tweeted out his displeasure about the possibility of the family’s bid to purchase the Chelsea club.

The Ricketts bid to purchase the storied European football club comes three years after family patriarch Joe Ricketts made and then apologized for published comments in which he claimed that Islam “is a cult and not a religion.”

Related: Website Leaks Joe Ricketts' Racist Emails

The Ricketts have insisted that Joe Ricketts is not involved in the bid for the club, which is expected to be sold for an estimated $4 billion. Instead, the effort is being driven by Tom Ricketts, the face of the Cubs' ownership group, which purchased the team from the Tribune Company.

Hedge fund manager Ken Griffin is also expected to be part of the Ricketts plan to purchase the football club.

“Our family rejects any form of hate in the strongest possible terms,” the Rickets family said in a statement issued Wednesday. “Racism and Islamophobia have no place whatsoever in our society.”

The statement, which also trumpeted the Ricketts’ “deep and abiding partnerships with the Muslim community” and other communities of color in Chicago, was issued a day after Canoville tweeted “a big fat anti-racism NO to the Ricketts bid.”

Brian Wolff, the head of the Chelsea Chicago Supporters Club, told The Guardian that the Ricketts' bid to buy Chelsea has been met with "universal disdain" in Chicago. In Europe, a #NoToRicketts social media campaign has also been launched in opposition to the family purchasing the popular club.

Tom Ricketts was expected to travel to London this week to help solidify the family’s interest in purchasing the Chelsea club. But the family’s link to the 2019 comments by Joe Ricketts has been met with strong opposition as the family attempts to distance itself from the controversial comments.

The Ricketts are believed to be one of seven bidders for the club, and the sale must be approved by the British government.

“Respect for diversity and inclusion are central to our family’s values,” the Ricketts statement said. “If we prevail in our bid for Chelsea, we commit to the club and to the fans that we will actively promote those values.”