Maybe he should change his name from something less Asian? </sarcasm>
Robert Lee Can’t Work In Charlottesville, Says ESPN
On the same day police were being assaulted in Chapel Hill, North Carolina the Civil War hysteria continued when ESPN announced it was removing an Asian announcer from calling a college football game in Virginia because the announcer’s name was Robert Lee.
The cable sports network said it made the change because the announcer’s name was the same as the Confederate general, according to Fox News.
The announcer, Robert Lee, was scheduled to work the Virginia and William & Mary game on September 2 and that game was to be played in Charlottesville.
“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 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.”Robert Lee the announcer will instead cover the Youngstown State at Pittsburgh game.
ESPN said the decision was not mandated by the company’s executives and that re-assignments happen all the time, according to Sports Illustrated.
Lee is a graduate of Syracuse University, according to his LinkedIn account. He has been a play-by-play broadcaster with ESPNU and ESPN3 since September of 2016. He also does sports casting for Siena College in Albany, New York.Jason Whitlock, a national sportswriter who used to work for ESPN, gave his reaction on Twitter.
“I’m sitting her blown away about the ESPN Robert Lee story,” Whitlock tweeted. “You can’t make this s— up. Ron Burgundy is running ESPN.”
Via BLM