Blue Jays player faces backlash after reposting Islamophobic content on social media following U.S. midterms

Community organizations and advocates are speaking out after a Toronto Blue Jays player posted Islamophobic content on social media following the U.S. midterm elections.

In a series of Instagram stories that were later taken down, right fielder Anthony Santander reposted one reel featuring video of the newly-elected Michigan Senator Abdul El-Sayed with the caption, "America voted for Sharia last night," and another that said, "Islam is not peaceful."

The reels, originally created by the American Truth Project account and a Gospel of Jesus Christ minister, caused outrage on social media. While Santander's decision to repost them sparked backlash from Canada's Muslim community.

His stories were "hurtful" for many Muslim baseball fans, said Ahmad Al Qadi, a senior advisor at advocacy organization National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM).

"It puts them in a position where they're now questioning whether they have a place in the sport, whether they have a place in Canada," he told CBC Toronto. "It's incredibly disappointing to see this kind of rhetoric being displayed by someone like Anthony Santander."

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Santander, 32, played 56 games during the Blue Jays' 2025 run to the World Series, but missed the entirety of this past season following shoulder surgery. He previously played eight seasons in Baltimore, including an all-star year in 2024, and is now in the middle of a five-year, $92.5-million deal with Toronto.

CBC Toronto has reached out to Santander and his agency for comment.

Al Qadi said online hate has become all too normalized, but it's up to big