Colin Cowherd was yanked off the air at ESPN, thanks to an anti-Dominican rant that could cost him at his new gig with Fox Sports.
As reported by Fox News , the outspoken Cowherd was trying to illustrate the complexity of football compared to other sports when he used his ill-fated Dominican Republic in baseball analogy.
“The game is too complex? I’ve never bought into that ‘baseball is too complex.’ Really? A third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic,” Cowherd said on his national radio earlier in the week.
“The Dominican Republic has not been known in my lifetime as having world-class academic abilities. A lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and have not had opportunities academically that other kids from other countries have. Baseball is like any sport. It’s mostly instincts.”
Following Thursday’s show, Colin quickly issued an apology via Twitter.
I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments. I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.
— Colin Cowherd (@ESPN_Colin) July 24, 2015
Cowherd even addressed his comments on air Friday, but at that point the damage was done.
“I could’ve made the point without using one country, and there’s all sorts of smart people from the Dominican Republic,” Cowherd said. “I could’ve said a third of baseball’s talent is being furnished from countries with economic hardships, therefore educational hurdles. For the record, I used the Dominican Republic because they’ve furnished baseball with so many great players.”
According to ESPN, Major League Baseball on Friday said Cowherd owes Dominican players an apology for the remarks, and the MLB Players Association also condemned his comments.
All told however, Cowherd was already on his way out of ESPN regardless of this controversy. In fact, he had signed on to join the Fox Sports network anyways. Many media outlets, including the Washington Post , began linking the big-time football fan to the new Fox NFL Kickoff pregame show.
But with these comments made by Cowherd and the early dismissal from ESPN, the question becomes whether or not the backlash will impact his new gig. According to the New York Times , Fox officials are staying mum, not responding to requests for comment.
It’s ironic that comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s famous anti-college remarks were made on Colin’s show earlier this year. Seinfeld faced backlash because he said he wouldn’t perform at colleges for fear that one wrong word in their hyper PC climate could cost you a career.
In the case of Colin Cowherd, this was more than just a word that could cost him the same.
[Photo credit: Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images]