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Orioles Fans Firing Back After Adam Jones 'Airport' Comment

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Backlash in Birdland. Orioles fans are firing back at All Star Adam Jones for comments he made during a fan meet-and-greet. He says he was joking, but some say he was downright disrespectful.

Meghan McCorkell talks to people who were there.

Some 250 fans paid $50 apiece to attend the event. Some say Adam Jones clearly did not want to be there.

Adam Jones is known as a prankster, but fans were not laughing at a tense Q and A session with him before Thursday's game. Deena Dietrich was there.

"You just got the feel that he didn't really want to do it. And it wasn't just me. Everyone around was kind of looking with their mouths open," she said.

It was Social Media Night, where fans say Jones was not sociable, complaining about pictures and autographs, giving terse answers and saying his favorite place in Baltimore is the airport so he can fly home.

"Definitely a little disappointing," an Orioles fan said.

"That's not good when you put down the city that you're playing in," said another.

The comments led to major backlash on social media, one fan writing: "If cameras bother you, don't come to Social Media Night. Sorry us Baltimore fans bothered you."

Another says: "I'm taking this thing pretty seriously. No pies for you until you apologize."

"I'm disappointed. I wouldn't expect that out of him," another fan said.

After the game, Jones told our partner, The Baltimore Sun, that he was just joking and that apparently people didn't appreciate his shtick.

Jones has praised fans in the past.

"I've seen when this place is a sea of orange and black. It can make it distracting for the other team," he said back in June.

Some say he needs to say he's sorry.

"It's just one of those things where you apologize and say 'I didn't really mean it in that way' and move on," said O's fan Mark Reed.

Others say he's already struck out.

The event was held an hour before the game. Jones tells The Sun he wishes it could have been held earlier so we could have given the fans a better showing.

Adam Jones is active in the Baltimore community, supporting the Y of Central Maryland and the Boys and Girls Club of Metropolitan Baltimore.

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