Please don’t ask Bryce Harper questions about clowns

I saw Dave Chappelle do stand-up at the height of “Chappelle’s Show” popularity and instead of listening while the man spoke, people in the crowd just yelled out catchphrases from his TV skits, as if Chappelle were going to hop into character and start reciting the scripts from his show.

He did not do that, because that would be lame.

It’s not exactly the same, but Bryce Harper, the 22-year-old starting outfielder for the NL All-Star team, can probably relate. Some people see Bryce and all they think of — still, to this day — is his famous “that’s a clown question, bro” quote from 2012. At the time, he was 19 and was asked by a reporter whether he’d be getting a beer in Canada, since he’s old enough to drink legally there.

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“That’s a clown question, bro” became the great baseball quote of the meme era. Even the White House dropped it on a reporter this year. And today, Harper, like Chappelle and his skits, has zero interest in “performing” his clown question bit upon request.

That was on display Monday during the All-Star game media day, when a reporter asked him to deliver his famous line. Here’s what happened next, from CSN Washington’s Peter Hailey:

“I don’t wanna do that,” Harper responded abruptly. 

“You don’t wanna do it?” the reporter asked again.

“Nope. Not doing it,” Harper said while slightly shaking his head.

Harper was then asked whether he would answer questions that were created by some kids. But before doing so, he made sure to lay out a few clown-related ground rules.

“What kind of questions are they?” Harper wondered aloud, but continued before anyone could elaborate. “If it’s anything about clowns or anything like that, I will not answer them.”

[On this week’s StewPod: Everything you need to know about the All-Star game.]

Hard to blame Harper for anything here. He’s having a spectacular season and could very well be on his way to an MVP award at age 22, but some reporter at the All-Star game wants him to recite a quote from three years ago?

That actually is a clown request. 

BLS H/N: For The Win

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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz