ESPN Faces Criticism for Announcer Switch on University of Virginia Football Game
ESPN has come under fire Wednesday for the decision to switch announcer Robert Lee from the University of Virginia’s opening game on Sept. 2 because his name is the same as the Confederate general who figured into the violence that erupted in the college’s home town of Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month.
Lee had previously been scheduled to call UVA’s home game against College of William and Mary. But after the shocking incidents at the Aug. 12 white supremacists rally in Charlottesville that left a local woman dead, ESPN executives and Lee came to the mutual decision that it would be better for him to shift to another game that day.
The spark of the violence in Charlottesville was the white supremacist protest over the city’s decision to remove a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from a local park. News of ESPN’s switch was first reported Tuesday evening by the sports news website Outkick the Coverage, which derisively referred to ESPN as “MSESPN” to indicate what it views as liberal bias injected into its news and event coverage (MS being a reference to MSNBC).
“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,” ESPN said in a statement issued Tuesday. “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 executives were concerned about Robert Lee, who is Asian-American, becoming the butt of painful jokes and hurtful Internet memes. But the cabler’s decision was savaged in social media, with many accusing ESPN of being overly sensitive and condescending in the expectation of a negative reaction.
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