Dexter Fowler Responds to Backlash from Comments on Donald Trump's Travel Ban

On Monday, Mark Saxon of ESPN.com reported St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Dexter Fowler did not regret comments he previously made criticizing President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven Muslim countries despite the backlash he received.

"I'm always going to care for my family, and if a question is asked out of concern, I'm going to answer the question truthfully," Fowler said, per Saxon. "It's not to hurt anybody. It's my perspective. It's unfortunate that people think of things that way, but I believe they're sensitive. I'm not the sensitive one."

Fowler had told ESPN (h/t USA Today): "It's huge. Especially anytime you're not able to see family, it's unfortunate."

This is personal for Fowler because his wife was born in Iran, which is one of the seven countries named in Trump's executive order. What's more, Saxon noted Fowler's sister-in-law delayed her return from a business trip to Qatar to avoid being detained.

Trump's executive order was blocked by a federal district court, and an appeals court then decided against reinstating it.

The Twitter account Baseball's Best Fans—which frequently shares Cardinals fans' derogatory statements as a way of mocking the notion that St. Louis truly has the best fans in baseball—passed along some of the responses to Fowler's comments regarding the executive order (warning: NSFW language):

Fowler expressed his thoughts on the backlash via Twitter:

"

For the record. I know this is going to sound absolutely crazy, but athletes are humans, and not properties of the team they work for.

— Dexter Fowler (@DexterFowler) February 19, 2017"

Fowler signed with the Cardinals this offseason after winning a World Series with the team's archrival, the Chicago Cubs, in 2016.