The New York Mets fired their general manager on Tuesday after an explosive report from ESPN claimed he had allegedly sent lewd pictures of himself to a female journalist during his time on the Chicago Cubs.
The report, published on Monday night, alleges Jared Porter sent unsolicited texts to a female sports journalist when he was the Director of Professional Scouting and Special Assistant for the Cubs in 2016.
According to ESPN, Porter allegedly sent more than five dozen texts and 17 photos to the reporter — who is not in journalism anymore and asked to remain unidentified due to concerns of backlash in her home country.
After meeting Porter, the woman initially believed he would offer information for stories. Instead, he began allegedly sending her salacious texts, calling her "gorgeous," and asked if she wanted "more" of him after sending her a selfie.
Though the woman said yes, she later told ESPN she felt it would have been "awkward" to tell him no.
Porter allegedly sent her sexually suggestive images, including a photo of male genitalia, which went unanswered in their text message exchange.
"Am I annoying you?" Porter allegedly asked at one point after she cut off contact with him. "Why won't you answer me beautiful?"
According to ESPN, he later apologized once the woman told him he was "out of line."
Porter did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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After the story's publication, Mets owner Steven Cohen announced early Tuesday morning he had fired Porter, citing his alleged behavior.
"We have terminated Jared Porter this morning," he wrote on Twitter. "In my initial press conference I spoke about the importance of integrity and I meant it. There should be zero tolerance for this type of behavior."
In a separate statement, the team's Twitter account also announced Porter's termination.
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"The New York Mets have terminated general Manager Jared Porter, effective immediately," the message reads. "Jared's actions, as reflected by events disclosed last night, failed to meet the Mets' stands for professionalism and conduct."
When contacted by ESPN, Porter admitted to texting the woman, but said he did not send her pictures. When told the outlet had a record of the messaging thread with the pictures, Porter said: "The more explicit ones are not of me. Those are like, kinda like joke-stock images."
While ESPN was ready to publish the story in 2017, the woman asked them not to out of fear of harming her career. She eventually agreed to let them run the article to "prevent this from happening to someone else."
"Obviously, he's in a much greater position of power," she told ESPN. "I want to prevent that from happening again. The other thing is, I never really got the notion that he was truly sorry."
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