Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
ESPN’s effort to sidestep a harmless coincidence has landed the network in a full-blown media controversy. On Tuesday night, ESPN both admitted that it removed Robert Lee from the broadcast crew from Saturday’s University of Virginia football home opener “because of the coincidence of his name” and used the Asian-American announcer for cover.
“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name,” ESPN said Tuesday night in a statement. “In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.”
The popular Outkick the Coverage sports blog sent the decision viral late Tuesday night with a post that blasted ESPN as “concerned that having an ASIAN FOOTBALL ANNOUNCER NAMED ROBERT LEE would be offensive to some viewers.” Outkick founder Clay Travis lampooned the network for the decision by calling it “MSESPN” in the post.
The University of Virginia’s home opener against William & Mary is September 2 in Charlottesville, Va., where a rally of white supremacists and neo-Nazis last weekend left one dead and 19 others injured. In the days following the incident, President Trump made a number of controversial comments including his statement that monuments to Confederate general Robert E. Lee should not be removed from public life.
As expected, the liberal-leaning ESPN was widely blasted on Twitter for the move:
ESPN will broadcast the game on the ACC Network on September 2.
Scott Porch writes about the streaming-media industry for Decider and is also a contributing writer for Playboy. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.
