Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Media

ESPN Gives Rob Parker 30-Day Suspension After RGIII Racial Comments

ESPN on Thursday announced that it is suspending commentator Rob Parker for 30 days for comments made about Redskins QB Robert Griffin III earlier this month on "First Take." ESPN VP/Production Marcia Keegan in a statement said, "Our review of the preparation for the show and the re-air has established that mistakes both in judgment and communication were made. ... To address this, we have enhanced the editorial oversight of the show and have taken appropriate disciplinary measures with the personnel responsible for these failures" (ESPN). Keegan said that the incident “will not change the direction of the show.” Keegan: "We will continue to discuss the important issues in sports, including race. Debate is an integral part of sports and we will continue to engage in it. However, we believe what we have learned here and the steps we have taken will help us do all that better" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/21). SI.com’s Richard Deitsch wrote the decision “comes in the wake of numerous ESPN employees speaking out about being associated with a program they believe is beneath the network.” A former ESPN employee said, "They brought on Rob for a reason -- he is confrontational. That is his style. They want debate and conflict and that can be a good thing, to force people to look at issues and force people to look at things. I know they get hammered a lot for making everything a racial topic, and sometimes it does go too far, but they do a good job of getting debate out there that people are shying away from because it is uncomfortable" (SI.com, 12/20). However, in L.A., Tom Hoffarth writes ESPN in the suspension “exposed more holes in how it mishandled the situation rather than trying to immediately fix it” (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 12/21).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/12/21/Media/Parker.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2012/12/21/Media/Parker.aspx

CLOSE