Stars Who Can't Stand Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez is no stranger to controversy. Not only has his baseball career been tainted with it, but so has his personal life. A-Rod has a real shady side, which includes a major doping scandal that ensured he'll never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He's also been at the center of countless cheating accusations and has allegedly had affairs with everyone from Madonna to Southern Charm star Madison LeCroy.
But perhaps the biggest blow-up of all is the one that involves his former brother-in-law, Constantine Scurtis (he is the brother of A-Rod's ex-wife, Cynthia Scurtis), and a possible 30-year jail sentence. According to Daily Mail, Constantine and Rodriguez worked together between 2003 and 2008 "to create a $1 billion property empire" from which Constantine says he was pushed out after Rodriguez and Cynthia divorced. Constantine sued the former MLB player for $50 million and, in January 2021, he brought new allegations against A-Rod, accusing him of embezzlement, "filing false tax documents, insurance fraud, interstate wire fraud, mail fraud, and racketeering," according to Daily Mail. Constantine's lawyers called Rodriguez "a serial cheater and liar," alleged that "after cheating on his wife, Cynthia, and lying about his affairs, Alex Rodriguez then lied to and cheated his brother-in-law in their real estate partnership," and concluded that Rodriguez has carried out an "illegal and fraudulent pattern of criminal activity." A-Rod's attorney told the Daily Mail that the retired baseball player "denies all claims."
And Constantine isn't the only person with beef against A-Rod — these stars all can't stand Alex Rodriguez.
Paul Lo Duca thinks Alex Rodriguez is 'one of the fakest people'
Four-time All-Star catcher Paul Lo Duca has no problem letting people know exactly how he feels about Alex Rodriguez and his March 2020 interview with WFAN is proof. During the chat, Lo Duca went on a rant against A-Rod. "I'm not a fan and I'm sorry," he declared. "Never will be a fan. I just think he's one of the fakest people out there."
Explaining his animosity toward Rodriguez, Lo Duca cited 2007's Mitchell Report, in which he was one of the athletes accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. (Rodriguez's name was not on the list, but a few months later he did admit to ESPN that he used PEDs.) Saying the discovery was "something I'll never be proud of," Lo Duca was adamant that he "didn't lie" and "owned up to it immediately," whereas A-Rod waited a while to come clean. As Yahoo! Sports notes, Lo Duca's career ended the following year while Rodriguez played for eight more seasons. "When you completely lie about it for years after years after years after years, you cash in $260 million and people are like, 'Well, he's successful,' well, hell yeah, he's successful," he seethed on WFAN.
Lo Duca said it seems like "everyone forgets" what transpired, later expressing that he doesn't get why A-Rod "gets put on a pedestal now." And then, he dragged Jennifer Lopez into the conversation, stating, "Now his relationship with J.Lo has taken him to a level that he's a saint, give me a break!"
Kylie Jenner shut down Alex Rodriguez's Met Gala memories of her
In what is perhaps the weirdest of Alex Rodriguez's beefs, Kylie Jenner called out the former shortstop for allegedly telling a story about her that never happened. In an interview with Sports Illustrated that took place in June 2019, just one day after that year's Met Gala, A-Rod shared his recollections of fashion's biggest night, gushing that he "had a great table," but showing off a very clear lack of celebrity knowledge. Listing off some of the folks sitting with him, he began, "The Black guy from The Wire — Idris Elba, yeah, and his new wife. Some famous singer next to me, I don't know what her name is [...] and we had an Asian gentleman from Rich Asians, the lead." While Rodriguez did manage to drop Donatella Versace's name, as well as Kylie and Kendall Jenner's, he then appeared to shade the latter, quipping, "Kylie was talking about Instagram and her lipstick, and how rich she is."
Whether the comment was meant to be a joke or not is unclear, but what is clear is that the beauty mogul wasn't happy being portrayed in that light. So much so that she responded to the interview on Twitter, writing, "Umm no I didn't. We only spoke about Game of Thrones." She paired her reaction with a facepalm emoji. Seemingly caught in his lie, Rodriguez responded, tweeting, "OMG that's right @KylieJenner!! It was me talking about you and your makeup line and how much my girls love you. #GOT #respect #alllove."
Dallas Braden would rather 'wrestle with a porcupine' than see Alex Rodriguez
Former Oakland Athletics pitcher Dallas Braden has no desire to ever spend time with Alex Rodriguez, and he didn't sugarcoat his feelings on the matter when talking about the shortstop in a February 2021 interview with WFAN. Braden used his time on the show to slam A-Rod, proving that their 10-year feud likely won't end anytime soon. "Let me make it abundantly clear: I have more desire to wrestle with a porcupine, maybe wrestle with a herd of pissed off porcupines, than I do to ever sit down and share two minutes of the same oxygen with that individual," he announced.
The pair's animosity began back in 2010 when Rodriguez ran across the pitcher's mound during an Athletics game — a move that broke an unwritten baseball rule. Braden, who happened to be pitching when A-Rod made the gaffe, lost his cool, yelling and going off about bad sportsmanship and lack of respect. Explaining why A-Rod's gameplay elicited such a strong reaction from him, Braden accused Rodriguez of having a big-league attitude, saying "that just doesn't rub me the right way." As he explained on WFAN, "These are the people that you bleed and sweat with day in and day out. These are the people you sacrifice with. The minute you vault yourself above each one of those individuals, regardless of what the back of their baseball card looks like, I don't know that you and I are going to be breaking bread."
Jose Canseco is convinced Alex Rodriguez is a cheater
Six-time MLB All-Star Jose Canseco wants the world to believe Alex Rodriguez is a cheater. In March 2019, he went on a Twitter rant fueled by, of all things, Jennifer Lopez's dance competition show, writing, "Watching World of Dance. Watching J.Lo text Alex Rodriguez, little does she know that he is cheating on her with my ex-wife Jessica. Poor girl, she has no idea who he really is," he proclaimed, adding, "I am willing to take a polygraph to prove that what I'm saying about Alex Rodriguez is 100% accurate." Canseco then sent out another doozy: "Alex Rodriguez, I challenge you to a boxing match or an MMA match anytime you want." He continued his attack in April 2020, writing, "Jennifer Lopez, I have something to show you for your eyes only, you will not regret it" and, days later, he tweeted, "Happy Easter to everyone except Alex Rodriguez." Come January 2021, Canseco predicted, "Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez will go their separate ways this year and Alex Rodriguez will hook up with a fitness model," which may or may not come true.
As we previously reported, the drama between A-Rod and Canseco has been brewing for a while. The conflict can be traced back to Canseco's second book about doping in baseball, 2008's Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and the Battle to Save Baseball, where he accused A-Rod of using steroids. Canseco alleged that he himself introduced A-Rod to a dealer and wrote that although he never saw Rodriguez "do the deed," he "did everything but inject the guy myself," per The New York Times. After the book came out, the NYT reported that A-Rod declined to comment. "Anything about baseball, I would love to talk about," he added.
Yankees fans are united by their dislike of Alex Rodriguez
When Alex Rodriguez left the Yankees in 2016, the AP pointed out that he did so "without fans' love." That's because, as former Yankees media relations director Marty Appel told the outlet, "he's not held with great fondness." Explaining A-Rod's lack of appeal, he continued, "There was just something about the way he related to people over the years that fell short of a warm embrace, whether it was body language or dating celebrities." Appel concluded, "The rank-and-file lunch-box-carrying people just never really took to him." Sports broadcaster and writer Keith Olbermann agreed, calling Rodriguez a "villain" and slamming, "Alex's era with the Yankees is one of the most barren in franchise history. There will be no reason for the fans to recall him fondly or even positively."
The animosity between spectators and player was made perfectly clear in 2015. Following Rodriguez's apology for his 2014 steroid use suspension and his return to MLB, SportsNet published an entire feature on "the love-hate relationship" between Yankees fans and the "disgraced superstar." While one fan called him "a drama queen," another slammed, "I hope A-Rod twists his ankle in the first inning and we don't have to talk about him for the rest of the season." Yet another criticized his alleged lack of sportsmanship, saying, "I heard the way he was to the rookies [...] I can't stand that." A-Rod may have been good at winning baseball games, but winning over the masses? That's a different story.