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‘Whatever backlash comes is OK’: Cubs player Matt Shaw defends missing game to attend Charlie Kirk’s memorial service

<i>John Locher/AP via CNN Newsource</i><br/>A memorial service was held for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale

By CNN Newsource

Published September 24, 2025 5:17 am

By Ben Morse, CNN

(CNN) — Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw has defended his actions after missing a game to attend the memorial service for Charlie Kirk.

Shaw missed a potentially crucial 1-0 loss at the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday to visit the service for conservative activist Kirk in Glendale, Arizona. Kirk was assassinated on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.

The 23-year-old said he had been personally invited by Kirk’s widow, Erika, and that he was cleared to attend by team personnel.

Shaw added that he was “not concerned at all” about any negative reaction he might receive for choosing to attend Kirk’s memorial and miss the Cubs’ game.

“Whatever backlash comes is OK,” Shaw told reporters on Tuesday. “I feel strongly about my faith and what was meant to be happened.”

Shaw explained that he and Kirk had lived together in the same apartment block in Arizona and became close through their faith.

He said that Kirk would text him after every Cubs game, and the pair posed for a photo alongside Cubs player Michael Busch in the dugout following a game at Wrigley Field in August.

The Cubs have already secured a spot in the MLB playoffs but are battling for postseason seeding. However, Shaw said that attending Kirk’s memorial was “something that was really important for me to do.”

During the Cubs’ game against the New York Mets on Tuesday, the Mets’ play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen expressed his surprise at Shaw’s absence from the game.

“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a (wildcard) race for any reason other than a family emergency really strikes me as weird,” Cohen said on the SNY broadcast.

Shaw was selected by the Cubs with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. In what is his rookie season in the MLB, he has hit 12 home runs and helped lead the Cubs to an 88-69 record.