The Justice Department has launched an investigation into MLB after players who wrote Bible verses on their hats in an apparent protest during San Francisco’s annual Pride Night game were reprimanded.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights at the Justice Department, said the probe was part of the Trump administration’s “commitment to combatting religious discrimination.”

During the San Francisco Giants Pride Night event on June 12, several team members were observed either adding Bible verses to their caps or declining to wear the Pride-themed headwear altogether. A few nights earlier, two Los Angeles Dodgers players also chose not to wear rainbow-themed caps with their teammates.

MLB subsequently cautioned the Giants players, stating that writing on caps violates league policy. The league clarified that its concern was specifically with the modification of the cap itself, not the content of any messages.

Dhillon escalated the situation Thursday in a letter to Commissioner Rob Manfred, warning him that MLB had been referred to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“The three players expressed their opposition to MLB’s pro-Pride orthodoxy,” Dhillon said in the letter. “The Civil Rights Act prohibits MLB and its franchises from unreasonably burdening the rights of players with religious objections to serving as the League’s vehicle for pro-Pride messages.”

“Federal law is clear: employers must modify their uniform requirements to reasonably accommodate their employees’ exercise of religion,” Dhillon added. “The Trump administration is committed to combatting religious discrimination.”

Andrea Lucas, chair of the commission, shared Dhillon’s letter on X but clarified the agency “cannot confirm or deny any potential action, or the existence of any charge or investigation, absent a court filing or an agreed-upon public resolution.”

“Rest assured, however, that EEOC is committed to protecting the religious liberty of all workers,” Lucas added.

The players at the center of the controversy were San Francisco Giants’ Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker, who added Bible verses to their caps during the 5-1 home loss to the Chicago Cubs.

Roupp wrote “Gen 9:12-16” in a silver marker on the front of the black cap, referring to a Genesis passage that is “often held up by Christians opposed to LGBTQ rights to say that the rainbow is not owned by the queer community,” an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle noted.

“It’s just about God’s covenant and a promise he makes to us and his faithfulness and his mercy,” Roupp told reporters afterward. “Just kind of something I believe in and I stand firm in that and thankfully we live in a country where you know, we have freedom to believe what we want, yeah, and express what we want.”

Giants reliever Sam Hentges did not wear the Pride-themed cap and opted instead for the club’s regular black version with the “SF” in orange.

The league issued a statement that writing on the cap violates the league’s rules and warned players about future violations.

In a follow-up statement on Tuesday, the league clarified that the “routine verbal warning” had nothing to do with the content of the respective messages but the act of modifying the uniform.

“We have given the same warning numerous times in the past to players for messages such as, ‘Dad’, ‘Happy Mother’s Day, I Love Mom,’ and names of family members,” the league said.

MLB is yet to comment on the Justice Department investigation.

The Independent has contacted MLB for comment.

Vice President JD Vance commented on the controversy earlier this week. “Trump won we don’t have to do this anymore,” he quipped on his X account, referring to the MLB’s warning to its players.

The Associated Press contributed reporting