In Maine's marquee Senate race, the Boston Red Sox just got dragged into the fight. Democrat Graham Platner, the presumptive challenger to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, bought airtime on New England Sports Network during a Sox game for an ad blaming private equity—and by extension, Red Sox ownership—for the team's struggles, saying it "destroyed our favorite baseball team" and is "buying up our homes, our sports, and our lives." Midgame, NESN yanked the spot, reports the New York Times. The network, owned by the Red Sox and Bruins, said it pulled the ad over "unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property," without specifying what was infringing. A Red Sox spokesperson had no immediate comment.
The Boston Herald takes the guesswork out of what was amiss, noting that the ad cited a 2021 Axios story with the headline "Private Equity Firm to Get Stake in Boston Red Sox." Platner took to Instagram on Saturday to complain and repost the ad, writing, "Yesterday we started running this ad during the Red Sox game. Midway through the game the ad was taken down by the station (which is owned by Red Sox ownership). And then the Sox blew a 4-0 lead." Media law expert Gigi Sohn called the move unusual but noted that cable channels aren't bound by federal political ad rules and sometimes use copyright concerns to sidestep content they dislike.
The Collins campaign accused Platner of trying to deflect from questions about his "judgment and character," a reference that surfaced again when Barstool Sports founder and outspoken Sox fan Dave Portnoy publicly rebuffed a Platner campaign request to talk about the ad—and instead pointed to a tattoo Platner has said he covered after learning of its Nazi-related symbolism.
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