Did sports media report that Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani said "There's a right way and a wrong way to get into this country. They broke the law- they have to go." when commenting on recent LA protests? No, that's not true: That quote appeared on a parody account on X that mimics a baseball podcast named "Talkin' Baseball". There are no media reports of Ohtani saying the quote.
The quote appeared in a post on X (archived here) published on June 10, 2025 by an account named "Talkin' Basabell" with the handle @TalkinBasabell_. It opened:
Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani on the LA protests:
"There's a right way and a wrong way to get into this country. They broke the law- they have to go."
This is the post in question:
Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani on the LA protests:
-- Talkin' Basabell (@TalkinBasabell_) June 9, 2025
"There's a right way and a wrong way to get into this country. They broke the law- they have to go." pic.twitter.com/EDrzdtqaVX
However the bio of that account reads (archived here):
NOT associated with the baseball podcast brought to you by
@JomboyMedia
PARODY
The profile picture of the account is the mirror image of the profile picture of the account of Talkin' Baseball (archived here), a baseball podcast.
(Image: profile picture of the @TalkinBasabell_ account on X)
A search of Google News (archived here) for the phrase "There's a right way and a wrong way to get into this country" in combination with the name "Ohtani" brought up no reports of him making such a statement. The only result was an article in Japanese saying the quote was fake.
