Sammy Sosa's lightened skin tone sparks internet uproar
Sammy Sosa, the former Chicago Cubs star who slugged 609 home runs over 18 seasons in the major leagues, sent the internet into an uproar Thursday after appearing on ESPN with a noticeably different skin tone than the one he had during his playing career.
Sammy Sosa then, and Sammy Sosa now, don't look like the same human being. They don't even look related to each other. pic.twitter.com/bp9QxysV3y
— LEFT✍🏾 (@LeftSentThis) July 13, 2017
My man Sammy Sosa looking like Snagglepuss smh pic.twitter.com/arJWAvQKMi
— G (@__GDB) July 13, 2017
This is what self-hate looks like: Sammy Sosa before and after pic.twitter.com/UsOkhk7zxp
— Little But Talawa (@LittleButTalawa) July 13, 2017
Sammy Sosa look like a bottle of calamine lotion and it's sad pic.twitter.com/S5f2QJ4t2y
— jimmy c hendrix jr (@jimmyhendrixjr) July 13, 2017
I don't know what Sammy Sosa is going through, but the most important lesson I've learned in life is to love yourself for who you are. pic.twitter.com/uZ5hH2dTG9
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) July 13, 2017
Sosa, whose pigmentation has gotten progressively lighter since he retired from baseball a decade ago, said in 2009 that the change in color is the result of a cosmetic cream he uses on his face before going to sleep.
Sosa in 1997, a year before he and Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris' single-season home run record from 1961
In the same interview, Sosa, a native of San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic, also said the change in his skin color was not motivated by racial factors.
"It's a cream that I have, that I use to soften (my skin), but has bleached me some," Sosa said in Spanish on "Primer Impacto," according to ESPN. "I'm not a racist, I live my life happily."