ESPN Fires Employee Over ‘Chink’ Reference To Jeremy Lin And SNL Tackles The Controversy (Video)
-
There is some fallout from the racially charged word ESPN used to refer to Jeremy Lin’s poor performance the other night. One employee has been fired while another has been suspended. From the LA Times:
Some folks at ESPN are Lin trouble.
The Disney-owned network is rushing to take action after an offensive racial term was used three separate times across its TV, radio and online platforms when discussing new NBA star Jeremy Lin.
After Lin’s New York Knicks lost a game Friday, a headline on the ESPN.com mobile website alluded to a “chink in the armor.” Lin was born in the U.S. but is of Taiwanese heritage; “chink” is, in certain contexts, a racial slur for a Chinese person. The headline was up for only a little over a half-hour before it was removed.
Earlier, on Wednesday, ESPN News anchor Max Bretos discussed Lin’s vulnerabilities and asked, “If there is a chink in the armor, where can Lin improve his game?”
On Sunday, ESPN announced that it had fired the employee who posted the ESPN.com headline and that Bretos had been suspended for 30 days.
Also, the network said that a “similar reference” was used Friday night on ESPN Radio New York, but that the commentator who used it was not an ESPN employee.
On Twitter, Bretos apologized but said his remark was not meant to refer to Lin’s race. “My wife is Asian, would never intentionally say anything to disrespect her and that community,” he wrote Saturday.
Here is Saturday Night Live taking on the issue in a mock sportscast. I like the contrast between the way they talk about Lin and when someone makes a similar comment about an African American athlete.
Related posts:
About The Author
-
Advertise Here
-
-
-
-
Leave a Reply