Kershaw disagrees with decision to honor Sisters
LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw says he disagrees with the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ decision to welcome an LGBTQIA+ group called the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at the team’s annual Pride Night.
Kershaw told The Los Angeles Times on Monday that the team’s decision to honor the group after it rescinded its original invitation prompted him to approach the Dodgers about expediting the announcement that the team was bringing back Christian Faith and Family Day later this season.
“I think we were always going to do Christian Faith Day this year, but I think the timing of our announcement was sped up,” Kershaw said. “Picking a date and doing those different things was part of it as well. Yes, it was in response to the highlighting of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [by the Dodgers].”
Kershaw announced via Twitter last Friday that Christian Faith and Family Day will be held July 30 when the Dodgers face the Cincinnati Reds. The last time the Dodgers held it was 2019.
Kershaw, who has been with the organization since being drafted in 2006, said his issues were with the Sisters and not the LGBTQIA+ community. He also added that he will not boycott Pride Night on June 16 when the Dodgers host the San Francisco Giants.
“This has nothing to do with the LGBTQ community or Pride or anything like that,” said Kershaw, who held a players-only meeting in the clubhouse before Monday’s game. “This is simply a group that was making fun of a religion, that I don’t agree with.”
The Dodgers declined to comment on the situation, according to The Times.
The Dodgers rescinded their original invitation to the Sisters on May 17 after receiving backlash from some conservative Roman Catholics and politicians, including Florida’s Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who accused the group of mocking nuns and the Christian faith.
However, the Dodgers’ decision sparked its own backlash from LGBTQIA+ groups around the country, with some deciding to pull out of Pride Night. The Dodgers reversed their decision five days later and welcomed them back.
The Sisters, a group of mainly men who dress as nuns, is a charity, protest and performance group founded in 1979 in San Francisco. Its Los Angeles chapter will receive the Community Hero Award.
The group denied it was anti-Catholic. On its website, the group said it uses “humor and irreverent wit to expose the forces of bigotry, complacency and guilt that chain the human spirit.”
Trevor Williams, a pitcher for the Washington Nationals, also criticized the Dodgers on Tuesday, posting a statement on Twitter saying he was “deeply troubled” by the decision.
The Nationals are in Los Angeles this week to face the Dodgers.
“To invite and honor a group that makes a blatant and deeply offensive mockery of my religion, and the religion of over 4 million people in Los Angeles county alone, undermines the values of respect and inclusivity that should be upheld by any organization,” Williams wrote on his account to his more than 43,000 followers.
“Creating an environment in which one group feels celebrated and honored at the expense of another is counterproductive and wrong. It is a clear violation of the Dodgers’ Discrimination Policy, which explicitly states that any conduct or attire at the ballpark that is deemed to be indecent or prejudice against any particular group (or religion) is not tolerated.”
A handful of athletes have objected to Pride Nights in recent years. Last season, five pitchers with the Tampa Bay Rays cited their Christian faith in refusing to wear Pride jerseys.
Also on Tuesday, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass apologized for expressing support on social media for anti-LGBTQIA+ boycotts of Target and Bud Light.
During the recent NHL regular season, seven players opted out of wearing rainbow-colored jerseys on their teams’ Pride nights. The Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild did not wear rainbow warmup jerseys after doing so in previous seasons.
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Jake Trotter
Kansas State running back Dylan Edwards has left the Wildcats and is expected to enter the transfer portal, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Edwards has been hampered by injuries this season and has played in just four games. He has only 34 carries for 205 yards.
In 2024, Edwards finished with 546 rushing yards while averaging 7.4 yards per carry with seven total touchdowns.
He began his career in 2023 at Colorado before transferring to K-State.
The Wildcats (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) are off this weekend.
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Mark Schlabach
Kentucky quarterback Zach Calzada apologized Friday for sending a video to someone on social media in which he boasted about the amount of NIL money he has received from the Wildcats this season.
The video, which was posted to X by a different person, showed Calzada counting a large stack of $100 bills.
Calzada, who turns 25 on Saturday, said he sent the video to someone who had apparently criticized his play this season.
In the video, Calzada tells the fan, “Hey, what you need to do, Garrett, is your ass needs to stop hatin’ and go get you some money. But since you ain’t got nothing, you go ahead and you can count mine.”
“Let’s count,” Calzada said, as he fanned the $100 bills.
“Don’t lose count, Garrett,” Calzada continued. “Straight hundreds.”
A Kentucky spokesman told the Lexington Herald-Leader on Friday, “Zach has taken responsibility for his actions. He has done the right thing and apologized. Now, it’s time to move forward.”
Calzada, who is playing his seventh season of college football, started the first two games for the Wildcats in 2025. He was ineffective, completing 47.2% of his attempts for 234 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
Calzada injured his throwing shoulder in the fourth quarter of a 30-23 loss to Ole Miss on Sept. 6.
Freshman Cutter Boley took over and has started the past six games, throwing for 1,376 yards with 10 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Calzada, from Buford, Georgia, started his career at Texas A&M in 2019. His best season came in 2021, when he replaced injured Haynes King and went 6-4 as the starter. He completed 21 of 31 passes for 285 yards with 3 touchdowns and 1 interception in the Aggies’ 41-38 upset of then-No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 9, 2021.
Calzada transferred to Auburn in 2022 but never played in a game after undergoing surgery on his non-throwing shoulder.
He spent the past two seasons at FCS program Incarnate Word, where he was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2024 and Player of the Year last season, when he threw for 3,744 yards with 35 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.
The Wildcats (3-5, 1-5 SEC) host Florida (3-5, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
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