ESPN blasted for political correctness after pulling announcer Robert Lee from UVa football game - Sensationalist Headlines

[quote]ESPN confirmed Tuesday night that it had decided to pull an announcer from calling a University of Virginia football game because his name is Robert Lee. This Robert Lee is Asian. “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,” reads the ESPN statement posted at t he popular Fox Sports college-football blog Outkick the Coverage. “Did I mention that Robert Lee is Asian?” wrote disbelieving blogger Clay Travis, who first broke the story, citing “multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN.” Mr. Lee had been scheduled to call the Cavaliers Sept. 2 game in Charlottesville against William and Mary. “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 said in its statement. ...[/quote] [url]http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/22/espn-pulls-announcer-robert-lee-university-virgini/[/url] [url]https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2017/08/22/robert-lee-espn-announcer-university-virginia-charlottesville[/url] This is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen.

This is probably the only thing blatantly stupid enough to make it safe for Tudd to leave his triple-walled Donaldbunker after the last few weeks [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Shitposting" - Pascall))[/highlight]

That's absolutely bizarre, I can't think of any possible justification for this. What were they thinking?

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52602762]What were they thinking?[/QUOTE] This is the golden question for many topics nowadays.

I'd make a joke about the level of unabashed stupidity on display, but I doubt I can out-do ESPN on this one.

Politically Correct Dilemma: - Dropping a commentator with the same name as a Confederate Civil War General. - Not keeping an Asian commentator. :goodjob:

I know it's cliche to say this at this point, but this really does feel like an onion article.

Robert E. Lee isn't even all that controversial of a guy in regards to the civil war. This is getting ridiculous.

[QUOTE=DinoJesus;52602854]I know it's cliche to say this at this point, but this really does feel like an onion article.[/QUOTE] I genuinely feel bad for Onion writers these days

[QUOTE=jimbobjoe1234;52602861]Robert E. Lee isn't even all that controversial of a guy in regards to the civil war. This is getting ridiculous.[/QUOTE] He wasn't, however the statue that white supremacists happened to be defending was his... So now his name is forever attached to this group, and that's a tragedy.

why does his race even fucking matter? even if he was white this would be bullshit.

Idiots doing idiotic things to cater to idiots. Not much changes in this world.

[QUOTE=usaokay;52602926]Feels like his non-white race would lessen the "of course this makes sense" crowd.[/QUOTE] I love how they need to make this clear, as if it would be more acceptable if he were white

According to at least [URL="https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/8/22/16187680/robert-lee-espn-virginia-game"]one source[/URL], the decision was mutual for both ESPN and Robert Lee, who felt more comfortable swapping with someone else to cover a game in Pittsburgh. [QUOTE=Darth Ninja;52602904]Idiots doing idiotic things to cater to idiots. Not much changes in this world.[/QUOTE] I don't even know who this is supposed to be catering to. They even say that they regret this became an issue but it wasn't an issue until they made a statement. This is just bizarre.

They didn't want him to be a screencap meme on twitter and I can totally understand that. (can understand that it was brought up, not that they made this decision obviously) Imagine your name was Charlotte Sville and you got offered to read the morning weather last week...

poe's law isn't just in effect, it's been tied to a massive pendulum and swung around and is now approaching the speed of light what the fuck is happening to reality

it's even more ridiculously stupid when you realize that no one (thank god) was complaining about it in the first place. purely a pr move. unacceptable

I suspect they did it because they thought it would be good for ratings, rather than because they thought it would be a "good thing"

[QUOTE=LAMB SAUCE;52602893]why does his race even fucking matter? even if he was white this would be bullshit.[/QUOTE] I think they're just pointing out how in an attempt to be politically correct, they ironically turned away a minority.

[QUOTE=Mort Stroodle;52602762]That's absolutely bizarre, I can't think of any possible justification for this. What were they thinking?[/QUOTE] ESPN has never been much for fancy book learnins

This is not a "PC" move it is a a move to avoid the inevitable screencaps of Robert Lee's name at University of Virginia. ESPN isn't doing this because they want to be politically correct or whatever, they just don't want the embarrassment of having the coincidence pop up on social media and hurting their rep. I don't think this is that big of deal at all. Its actually just a company doing what all companies worried about public appearances should do, stay vigilant for awkward coincidences and avoid PR blunders.

How about just give him some sort of alias? Cant people just call themselves whatever(almost)?

[quote]With Robert E. Lee suddenly back in the news, they feared Robert Lee, a young, new play-by-play announcer assigned to the Virginia-William & Mary game on opening weekend would show up in Twitter memes and posts on Web sites like Awful Announcing or Deadspin. They were worried that his big moment, even on a lightly watched game, might turn into a national joke. According to an ESPN executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, [B]ESPN asked Lee if he would be more comfortable calling another game but gave him the option to stay. Lee chose to switch assignments, and ESPN accommodated him.[/B][/quote] [url]https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/08/22/espn-pulls-announcer-robert-lee-off-virginia-game-charlottesville-protests/592458001/[/url]

So he technically pulled himself out. I can't say I'm surprised, there's always something someone has to leave out that doesn't fit their viewpoint.

[QUOTE=Ogopogo;52604039][url]https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/08/22/espn-pulls-announcer-robert-lee-off-virginia-game-charlottesville-protests/592458001/[/url][/QUOTE] So this was a mutual decision made between the commentator and the network in order to make both more comfortable and not actually some tyrannical mega-pc stomping-down of an innocent man with a name that's slightly unfortunate given the situation? Whoda' thunk?

[QUOTE=froztshock;52604055]So this was a mutual decision made between the commentator and the network in order to make both more comfortable and not actually some tyrannical mega-pc stomping-down of an innocent man with a name that's slightly unfortunate given the situation? Whoda' thunk?[/QUOTE] Turns out everyone involved was being reasonable after all. Damn PC brigade, ruining our fun

[QUOTE=Apollo2947;52603734]This is not a "PC" move it is a a move to avoid the inevitable screencaps of Robert Lee's name at University of Virginia. ESPN isn't doing this because they want to be politically correct or whatever, they just don't want the embarrassment of having the coincidence pop up on social media and hurting their rep. I don't think this is that big of deal at all. Its actually just a company doing what all companies worried about public appearances should do, stay vigilant for awkward coincidences and avoid PR blunders.[/QUOTE] And why would that matter at all

[t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DH7y0ZKVwAAS2CQ.jpg:large[/t]

[QUOTE=froztshock;52604055]So this was a mutual decision made between the commentator and the network in order to make both more comfortable and not actually some tyrannical mega-pc stomping-down of an innocent man with a name that's slightly unfortunate given the situation? Whoda' thunk?[/QUOTE] don't worry, in a few days a similar story will come out and we'll all freak out for the first few posts and then the same revelation will be made it's kind of a cycle here now

[QUOTE=froztshock;52604055]So this was a mutual decision made between the commentator and the network in order to make both more comfortable and not actually some tyrannical mega-pc stomping-down of an innocent man with a name that's slightly unfortunate given the situation? Whoda' thunk?[/QUOTE] It's idiotic that it happened at all. People are that incapable of applying context; or seeing how unrelated it is to Robert E. Lee, and the statue situation? It's not some leftist conspiracy but it is a dumb reaction to recent events.