ESPN's announcer Robert Lee pulled to avoid offending anyone

[Teh One Who Knocks]

FOX News


https://i.imgur.com/qyrsLOK.jpg

In the wake of the events in Charlottesville, Va., ESPN decided to pull one of its announcers from calling a University of Virginia football game -- because his name is Robert Lee.

Lee, an Asian-American sportscaster who started with the network in 2016, was moved to a different game "simply because of the coincidence of his name," ESPN said, referencing the Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

On Aug. 12, violence broke out at a protest from a white-nationalist group opposing the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville. A driver ultimately rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring more than a dozen other people, police said.

ESPN, which has faced accusations of liberal bias that some observers believe has led to a downtick in viewership, said it moved its announcer to the Youngstown State game at Pittsburgh.

The network's full statement: “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. 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.”

ESPN notes that assignments are switched all the time.

[Goofy]

:|

[Teh One Who Knocks]

People's names can be offensive and trigger people :nono:

[Goofy]

Im gonna change my name to Goan Fuckyersel :tup:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

:triggered:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

http://i.imgur.com/lSRpIyG.png

[Muddy]

I got another brotha by the name of Kwan Lee..

[Hal-9000]

Wouldn't optics tell us that this guy is no confederate general from the south?


:lol: I almost had to stop typing because it's so silly..

[Teh One Who Knocks]

http://i.imgur.com/Kl8xpB8.png

[Hal-9000]

It's so sad that something like racism is going to destroy one of the greatest civilizations of the modern era.

Centuries of learning are supposed to improve a culture, not make it take three steps backward.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

https://i.imgur.com/HC5P3f9.jpg

[Muddy]

It's so sad that something like racism is going to destroy one of the greatest civilizations of the modern era.

Centuries of learning are supposed to improve a culture, not make it take three steps backward.

Whats really fucked up is as Americans we are the great melting pot of the world... It's not like this country is just one race like Japan or any of those other places that have accomplished anything..

[Hal-9000]

Whats really fucked up is as Americans we are the great melting pot of the world... It's not like this country is just one race like Japan or any of those other places that have accomplished anything..

Got the same thing here man, maybe even on a larger level in terms of how we welcome in every type of immigrant possible.

I've worked with enough people from other countries to realize that racism is everywhere and will likely never go away. But like some of these guys told me, they may not like the ___(insert race of choice), but they certainly don't voice it outloud in public or write about it.

[Muddy]

maybe even on a larger level in terms of how we welcome in every type of immigrant possible.

I think your countries liberal stance on immigration would be much much different if your Southern border was shared with a 3rd world nation.. :)

[Hal-9000]

Fook me, we seem to take in the flavor of the day right after members of their race commit some heinous shitty world crime.

Syrians were involved with Isis, our new PM welcomed thousands of refugees as one of his first acts in office.

I like to be passive and say we can't blame the actions of the few on the many...but where does safety at home stop and helping future murderers start?

[Hal-9000]

I think your countries liberal stance on immigration would be much much different if your Southern border was shared with a 3rd world nation.. :)

We do share our southern border with a third world nation.



:dance: :lol: :dance:

[Godfather]

Sounds like this story might be a bit misinterpreted/embellished?


http://www.snopes.com/2017/08/23/robert-lee-espn/



This wasn’t about offending anyone. It was about the reasonable possibility that because of his name he would be subjected to memes and jokes and who knows what else. Think about it. Robert Lee comes to town to do a game in Charlottesville. The reaction to our switching a young, anonymous play by play guy for a streamed ACC game is off the charts — reasonable proof that the meme/joke possibility was real.

So, when the protests in Charlottesville were happening, we raised with him the notion of switching games. Something we do all the time. We didn’t make him. We asked. Eventually we mutually agreed to switch.

No biggie until someone leaked it to embarrass us and him. They got their way.

That’s what happened.

No politically correct efforts. No race issues. Just trying to be supportive of a young guy who felt it best to avoid the potential zoo.

[Muddy]

Fair enough.. fair enough..

[RBP]

ESPN is ridiculous. I try to listen, but it regularly devolves into social justice issues. I can completely understand why people are walking away in the millions.

Can you just talk about sports, please? Jesus fuck.

The best comment I heard was that ESPN has been extremely pro-Kaepernick and regularly bitched about the ridiculous excuse that he would be a distraction and offend people. THEN, when it comes to their own employee, they make the exact same decision.

:shocker:

[RBP]

Sounds like this story might be a bit misinterpreted/embellished?

http://www.snopes.com/2017/08/23/robert-lee-espn/

Oh please. :lol: So they are forced to walk it back with the support of WashPo? :rofl:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

by Bob Price - Breitbart


https://i.imgur.com/liSb90d.png

An editorial piece by a former ESPN executive defends the sports network’s decision to remove Asian broadcaster Robert Lee from covering the University of Virginia season opener because of his name. The op-ed says the decision is “not unreasonable in today’s America.”

“We want to pretend that sports are a safe sanctuary from the world’s ugly problems, but that has always been a farce,” former ESPN Vice President Roxanne Jones wrote on CNN. Truth is, not even the glorious game of football can keep America’s toxic culture of bigotry, hate and violence at bay. It’s just too heavy a burden.”

Her comments follow her former employer’s decision to remove Asian broadcaster Robert Lee from covering the William and Mary College vs. University of Virginia football game simply because his name resembles that of the late Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

“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 officials disclosed Tuesday night in a statement obtained from ESPN spokesman Derek Volner. “In that moment it felt right to all parties.”

“No politically correct efforts. No race issues,” ESPN continued. “Just trying to be supportive of a young guy who felt it best to avoid the potential zoo.”

In the 24 hours since the news of ESPN’s decision, news networks and talk radio shows mocked the sports networks decision as “political correctness gone mad.”

Jones rebutted the criticism, writing:


So imagine if you’re scheduled to be the announcer for ESPN’s livestream of the University of Virginia’s season-opener football game against William and Mary in a few weeks and your name is Robert Lee. But you have watched, along with the world, as thousands of torch-wielding, white supremacists screaming hate-filled chants marched around the UVA campus and rallied all their hate at the foot of a statue bearing your name: Robert Lee. A monument the city had voted to remove under state objections. Well, it’s not unreasonable, even though you are Asian-American, that you — and your employer — may have some concerns.

Nope, not unreasonable at all. Not in today’s America. Not when we just witnessed heavily armed, swastika-wearing protesters who believe in white supremacy clashing in the streets with counterprotesters, who believed just as passionately that all people are created equal. Not when one woman is dead and dozens more injured because they had the audacity to stand up to the failed notion of white supremacy. Not when a statue, or a team name, or a presidential tweet can incite racial tensions and violence.

No matter that Robert Lee is Asian-American and his name has nothing to do with the Confederacy or slavery. It seems unreasonable, ignorant and downright ridiculous to associate his name in any way with the Confederate general. Still, nothing we’ve witnessed in Charlottesville, or since, has been reasonable or intelligent.

Jones went on to attack the issue of Confederate statues, calling them “symbols of oppression, hate, and the whitewashing of history, and tied the current tensions over police brutality and immigration.

She concludes her defense of her former employer claiming “ESPN decided to avoid evoking the chaos during a live broadcast. Robert Lee decided he just wanted to do his job, which is to broadcast a livestream of a college football game.”

She quoted an ESPN executive saying, “Let’s not go to the zoo if we don’t have to go to the zoo.”

“Good call,” Jones says. “Life is crazy enough already.”

================================================== ===============

You can read the full editorial here if you can stomach it: http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/23/opinions/espn-robert-lee-charlottesville-jones-opinion/index.html

[RBP]

Especially Stupid Pricks Network

[Hal-9000]

The guy could be black and this would still be going on. Logic such as the namesake died over 150 years ago falls upon the deaf ears of the incredibly stupid masses.

[deebakes]

we (the united states) are in serious trouble with this type of nonsense. seriously, where did common sense go?