A story highlighting Jackie Robinson‘s time in the United States Army is back up on the Department of Defense website … less than 24 hours after it was removed.
The story reappeared on the DoD’s government site Wednesday afternoon … after a wave of public backlash over its removal.
It’s unclear whether the initial takedown was intentional or accidental.
TMZ Sports, before the Robinson story was republished, asked Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot for answers … and he seemed to indicate that while the Secretary of Defense wants anything DEI-related pulled, the Robinson story was taken down in error.
“As Secretary Hegseth has said, DEI is dead at the Defense Department. Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military. It Divides the force, Erodes unit cohesion and Interferes with the services’ core warfighting mission. We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms.”
“In the rare cases that content is removed — either deliberately or by mistake — that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct the components and they correct the content accordingly.”
Ullyot, in a separate statement, also praised Robinson’s military service.
“Everyone at the Defense Department loves Jackie Robinson, as well as the Navajo Code Talkers, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Marines at Iwo Jima and so many others – we salute them for their strong and in many cases heroic service to our country, full stop.”
Shortly after, the article was back up and running.
Of course, Robinson’s exploits on the diamond are widely known … but not everyone is aware of his service to the country.
Jackie was drafted into the military in 1942. In January 1943, JR was commissioned a second lieutenant, and was ultimately assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the 761st “Black Panthers” tank battalion, admirably serving for about two years.
As for the Commander-In-Chief’s take, President Donald Trump hasn’t weighed in on the controversy … but it’s safe to say he’s a big fan of Jackie.
In fact, POTUS announced in February his plans to build a Jackie Robinson statue in the National Garden of American Heroes.
