CBS’ Billy Packer Says Comment Not Meant To Be Insensitive

Packer Says Comment Not Meant To Be Insensitive

CBS college basketball analyst Billy Packer said that he “wasn’t being insensitive or homophobic” when he used the word “fag” during an interview on PBS’ “The Charlie Rose Show” that aired March 30, according to Marc Narducci of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. At the end of the interview, Rose, who was in N.Y., asked Packer in Atlanta if he “needed a runner for the Final Four.” Packer responded, “You always fag out on that one for me, you know. You always say, oh, yes, I’m going to be the runner, then you never show up.” Packer later explained, “I said he fagged out on me and it had nothing to do with sexual connotation.” Narducci notes Dictionary.com defines “fag out” as meaning “to tire or weary by labor; exhaust.” But CBS Sports VP/Communications LeslieAnne Wade said that Packer “could have displayed better judgment.” Wade: “It may be a poor choice of words, but Billy used the phrase as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary, among others” (PHILA. INQUIRER, 4/5).