The heartfelt compliment of a certain Braves announcer turned into an unintentionally viral moment.
CJ Nitkowski, color analyst for the Braves, was congratulating right fielder Eli White on the recent birth of their child when he used some phrasing that he may now regret.
“He and his wife, they’re just such great people,” Nitkowski said on Thursday of White’s return.
“I said, ‘We need more great people in this world. The more Whites, the better off we’re going to be.’”
While anyone listening in context could clearly see what Nitkowski meant. That line earned more than its fair share of laughter online.
“It does feel like he took a very deliberate route to arrive at that exact phrase,” one Reddit user.
“Did seem like he was being extremely careful about saying that in the worst way possible,” wrote another.
“Oh yeah he had that line locked and loaded,” one user said.
“You know he was hyped to sneak that in there,” opined another.
This isn’t the first time Nitkowski has made headlines for things outside of his 10-year MLB playing career.
“In 2018, Nitkowski liked a tweet from far-right group the Proud Boys, as they posted a picture of a USA women’s hockey player making an ‘Okay’ sign, which has been associated with white nationalism,” the New York Post reports.
“Nitkowski later apologized and said he did not endorse the views of the Proud Boys.”