Sosa: Lighten up folks, it's just facial cream
Relax, Sammy Sosa says.
(AP)
PHOTO GALLERY
Sammy Sosa through the years
The dramatic lightening of his face is caused by a facial cream, not steroids, an infection nor skin-bleaching treatment.
Sosa, in an interview that aired Tuesday on Univision's "First Impact'' show, said he was "a little surprised'' by all the uproar over his appearance, which started after a photo surfaced of him at the Grammy Latino Awards ceremony last week in Las Vegas.
In the photo, the former Cubs slugger looks significantly paler than he did while playing under the sunny skies at Wrigley.
"I spent many years, playing [in the field] at 1:20 p.m. in Chicago for 19 years, [and] you know that the skin gets damaged, and so what I did, now that I'm not playing, not getting so much sun, well I have a cream that I apply before going to sleep and it lightens my face a bit,'' Sosa said during the Spanish-language interview at his Miami home. He would not name the cream, but said it was from Europe.
Sosa also claimed the flash from the Grammy picture made him look whiter than he is.
He said he wasn't trying to look like deceased singer Michael Jackson and was not trying to permanently change his appearance.
"I am not a racist, I'm not like that. I'm a person that lives a happy life, and I want people to calm down and want them to know the truth, that I didn't do this with that intention,'' he said.
Sosa said he didn't think the photo would cause such a big commotion.
He laughed at several points during the interview and at multiple points joked that he planned to "market'' the cream now that he's gotten so much attention.
Sun-Times staff