WATCH: Older Cubs fan slaps kid for not standing during the National Anthem

A video went viral this week of an older Cubs fan at Wrigley Field leaning over from his row during the national anthem and slapping a younger fan on the back of the head because the kid was sitting during during the National Anthem.

The kid got slapped and stood his ass right up immediately and remained standing for the rest of the song without saying another word.

Whether that’s the appropriate way to teach the next generation about respecting the United States of America, the flag, and the military is certainly up for debate but you cannot argue with the results.

The kid was sitting, he got slapped, and then he was standing. Problem solved in approximately 0.3 seconds through a method that every youth sports coach in America quietly wishes they could deploy but knows they’d lose their job for even suggesting.

The Chicago Police Department put out a statement to TMZ saying they’re aware of the video but no police report has been filed and they’ll only take action if the incident is officially reported.

Neither fan has been identified as of now and the Cubs went on to take two of three from the Twins to improve to 56-43, which has absolutely nothing to do with the slapping incident but is worth noting because the Cubs are having a solid year and Wrigley Field is apparently producing entertainment both on and off the field.

Chicago Cubs fan slapped for not standing during the National Anthem

Guy at a Chicago Cubs game refuses to stand during the National Anthem!

The guy behind him gets pissed and does this…. pic.twitter.com/C4iKqPX7Co

— Brandon (@LibOrNormal) July 20, 2026

I Have Thoughts on Both Sides of This

I have friends in the military. I stand for the anthem because I stand for them. I don’t give a fuck about politics and every politician in this country stinks regardless of party, but the anthem isn’t about politicians. It’s about the people who served and the people who are serving and the sacrifice that allows all of us to sit in a baseball stadium on a Saturday afternoon and watch the Cubs play the Twins without worrying about anything more serious than hot dogs and beer.

I stand for the anthem every time it plays and I’ll keep standing for it because the people I know who wore the uniform deserve that respect from me personally.

That said, I’m not slapping anyone for sitting down during the anthem because what other people do with their bodies during a song at a baseball game is their business and the idea that a stranger has the right to physically hit another stranger because they disagree about national anthem etiquette is insane behavior regardless of how strongly you feel about standing for the flag.

The older fan clearly felt passionate about the anthem and the flag and everything they represent, and I respect that passion because it comes from a real place that I understand on a personal level but the execution of expressing that passion by leaning over a row and slapping a kid on the back of the head at Wrigley Field is where the whole thing goes sideways because you can’t assault people at baseball games for not sharing your level of patriotic expression.

Relax, brother.

I don’t know your story or why you felt so strongly in that moment that physical contact was the appropriate response to a kid sitting in his seat during the anthem. But you have to let that kind of thing go in public.

Ignore it. Move on. Watch the game. The kid sitting down during the anthem wasn’t hurting you or anyone else and the slap, while undeniably effective in getting him to stand up, created a situation that could have escalated into something significantly worse if the kid had responded with more than quiet compliance.

The Internet Reaction Is Somehow Worse Than the Slap Itself

I don’t know what’s worse between the actual slap and the dorks on social media trying to act like the kid deserved to get hit by a stranger for sitting during a song at a baseball game. The comment sections are filled with people celebrating the older fan like he’s some kind of patriotic hero who struck a blow for American values by slapping a kid at Wrigley Field, and the level of bloodlust from people who think physical violence is an appropriate response to someone exercising their right to sit in a chair they paid for is genuinely disturbing even by internet standards.

I have come to terms with idiots in America.

They exist on both sides of every issue and they’re the loudest voices in every comment section because reasonable people don’t generate engagement the way unhinged people do.

The “he deserved it” crowd and the “this is assault and a hate crime” crowd are both operating at levels of stupidity that cancel each other out, and the actual reasonable take is somewhere in the middle where you can simultaneously believe that people should stand for the anthem out of respect for the military while also believing that slapping strangers at baseball games is not an acceptable form of civic engagement.

Im Glad No Police Report Was Filed

Now on the kid’s side. If you’re the type of person who won’t stand for the flag and probably has complicated feelings about American institutions and authority, and then your response to getting slapped is filling a police report to have authorities come save you, then I can’t really help ya.

You’re sitting during the anthem as a form of protest or indifference toward the very system you’re now asking to intervene on your behalf, and the contradiction between “I won’t stand for the flag” and “please send the police” is the kind of irony that writes itself without anyone needing to point it out.

Getting authorities involved over a slap on the back of the head at a baseball game is escalating a situation that both parties should want to forget as an option about as quickly as possible because neither one of them looks great and neither one of them is going to come out of a police investigation or a social media firestorm looking like the reasonable person in the interaction.

No police report has been filed. Good. Keep it that way.

The older Cubs fan shouldn’t be slapping people at baseball games and the younger fan should consider standing for the anthem out of respect for the people who made it possible for him to sit in that seat in the first place. Both things can be true at the same time and neither thing requires the involvement of law enforcement or the court of public opinion to resolve.

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